Scarlet Family Ties
by PC20XX
Summary: Join the two vampires, Remilia and Flandre Scarlet as they each learn to better themselves by encountering two vampire hunters that test their control. Chapter 6 is up!
1. 01  Sorrow

Disclaimer: All characters used in this story belong to their respectful owners.

Author's Note: Hello, fellow reader, before you dive in to my story, I have a few warnings. Most of this story will take place in the Castlevania: Rondo of Blood setting than in the Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil setting. There is a lot of "fluff" so it is up to you to decide or turn away now. One last thing: Science hurts. With that out of the way, I welcome you to my story and hope you enjoy reading!

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><p>"Remi, are we good or bad?" Flandre asked her sister out of curiousity. She was walking towards the basement of the mansion they lived in. After an incident involving her losing control of herself and laying waste to a great deal of the mansion, she was sentenced to permanent imprisonment in the basement. This was going to happen with the shrine maiden, Reimu, using magical power to seal her in. Remilia, her sister, was furious at her sister's actions up to this point that she didn't even answer her question. "Are we good or bad?"<p>

_"You're both bad, but you're worse."_ Reimu thought to herself as she continued watching the youthful vampire's hands. Normally, she would avoid sealing anyone in isolation, but after having witnessed the destruction of the structure they currently were in and with Remilia's input, she found no better alternative. She had almost lost one of her friends because of the girl's rampage. Her friend was trying to help stop the younger vampire using her own magic, but was knocked out when she fell out of the sky onto the grass. Her fall was caused by one of Flan's attacks knocking away the broom out from under her as she was using it to fly.

"Red-white-san, are we good or bad?" Reimu felt a little irritated to be called that based on the colors of clothes she was wearing, but she did recall that she did not mention her name to anyone besides Remilia. And now the question was pointed towards her. She bit her lip when the two vampires next to her weren't looking.

"Just because someone's bad doesn't mean they can't be good. And just because someone's good doesn't mean they can turn bad." the shrine maiden explained to avoid a direct answer.

"Oh. Okay. So we're in the middle. Thank you, red-white-san." Flan looked at Reimu with an appreciative smile. Remilia now considered the words that the human had mentioned.

_"Just because someone's bad doesn't mean they can't be good..."_ the elder vampire puzzled in thought. They reached the basement to see that the metal door was wide open with a few scorch marks.

"Flan, go on in." the black-haired girl ordered lightly. The younger vampire looked at the room that was her own before looking back at Reimu and Remilia. _"Oh, no. She's going to try to run again."_

"Will black-white-san be okay? I only wanted to play with her, not break her." the apparent eight-year-old asked to be sure she didn't harm who she thought was her friend.

_"Play? Break?"_ Reimu couldn't believe the child's idea of a fun time was causing havoc and making others dodge her powerful attacks. Black-white-san would be known as her friend, Marisa, who wore a maid outfit and a wide black hat to make herself known as a witch. "She'll be okay. Please go inside your room. This won't take long."

"Reimu?" The shrine maiden turned to the elder vampire. "I don't want to follow through with this anymore."

"Remi, I did something wrong. I'm sorry. Let red-white-san do what she was going to do. You said it'll help me, too." Remilia was shocked at the argument that she hugged her sister dearly for even considering sealing her away. After all, she was still her little sister.

"No, Flan. I'm changing my mind. You needed to go outside sometime and I wasn't prepared to let you out because I was just..." The blue-haired girl paused for a moment. Reimu could already see what she was about to say, but she knew she wouldn't admit it to her-she was deeply scared of her younger sister's power. "I'm sorry. Let's just help you control your powers more, okay?"

"But I am the shrine maiden and I'm in charge of the decision of whether to seal her or not." Reimu interrupted with a half-hearted smile. The two vampires turned to her with bewildered expressions that she merely shrugged off. "I have another idea. Though I'm not sure if it's in your best interest."

"Just spill it out." Remilia sighed as she carressed her sibling's blonde hair.

"I could make Flan drink a special tea that will give her a long sleep to face a trial that should help better her control."

_"A tea? A tea, really? That is just absurd!"_ Remilia thought in disbelief. She raised an eyebrow and didn't notice it until Reimu acknowledged her.

"I know what you're thinking. But I've used it on others that had trouble... staying out of trouble. Now they think more before they do something." Reimu explained herself with her past experience.

"And who were these others? Humans, of course, right?" The two sisters parted from their embrace and kept focus on the guest of the mansion.

"Actually, yes. Because it was so powerful when I first gave it to one, he went to sleep for a few months. However, when he woke up, he said he felt like he saw heaven and was enlightened. I've given it to a few youkai and it works, but I put in less of the special ingredient to make the time to sleep a lot less." This caught Remilia's attention instantly. A few months without worrying about Flandre's behavior would be most beneficial.

"You hear that, Flan? You'll be able to control yourself better with this long sleep." Remilia explained excitedly to her sister in simpler terms.

"I have to sleep, but for how long? You said a few months for human. And less for a youkai. What about a vampire, Reimu?" the younger vampire asked with a hint of concern. Even Remilia noticed the worry in her voice.

"Reimu, don't tell me it can last up to a year!" Remilia exclaimed with a hint of sarcasm that Reimu caught on. _"Tell me that it is!"_

"Don't worry, Flan. I'll give you the same amount I've given to everyone else besides the first guy I gave it to." She saw the elder vampire's eagerness change to a frown and her eyes slim when she said this.

_"Killjoy."_

"Oh, goodie! Can we start right now? Can we?" Flan asked with excitement of getting better control of her powers with only a big sleep.

"I would, but see... I have my special ingredient back at the shrine." Reimu told with a big smile to show that she was sorry for the inconvenience. The younger vampire with wings consisting of colorful prism shards attached to two, long and appropriately bent metal bars turned eagerly to her sister.

"Remi, can we please go there?" Flan asked with her pleading scarlet-colored eyes.

"Absolutely not!" Seeing the girl's destruction outside of the mansion for a brief ten minutes was enough for Remilia to deny this request. She glared at her sister with frustration to show her decision was final. Reimu felt uncomfortable watching the two sisters have an argument and did her best to keep quiet. After a few moments of silence, Flandre gave in and looked down at the ground in defeat.

"Okay." The younger vampire in the red dress agreed before looking up towards Reimu. "Red-white-san, will you come back to give me the tea?"

"I will. Just enjoy the rest of your day-I mean night." the shrine maiden laughed at her correction since vampires were nocturnal.

"Reimu, would you bring some more of this special ingredient?" the blue-haired vampire asked in a polite manner after calming herself down. Reimu loses her smile from her earlier laugh and frowns at Remilia's request. "It's not what you're thinking. I want to try this for myself if what you say is true."

"Are you sure?" The guest couldn't believe the mistress of this mansion would want a dose for herself since Reimu saw that she was well controlled of herself.

"Yes. If it'll benefit Flan here, then it'll probably do the same for me." The shrine maiden was still suspicious of the elder vampire's intentions, but she disguised her suspicion with a smile.

"Then I'll bring some for you too. I'm off now. Bye!" she waved as she walked towards the exit of the mansion.

"Remi, why are you going to drink it?" the eight-year-old asked out of curiousity. The tea was meant for her from what she heard. Remilia didn't have any trouble controlling herself, did she?

"It's because I'm curious. I haven't heard of such an effect." Remilia gave her sister a small smile to try to get her answer across.

"Oh. See you tomorrow, then, sister." Just as she turned around to walk back into her room, she felt her right hand grabbed.

"How would you like to go read a few books with me?" The excitement in her sister after she asked this made Remilia feel guilty for almost sealing her away for good.

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><p>Author's Note: That wraps up the first chapter! Flandre had attempted to escape again after the scarlet mist incident and sentenced to imprisonment, but is now offered an alternative-a cup of tea. Have a good one and until next time.<p> 


	2. 02 Impressions

Disclaimer: All characters used in this story belong to their respectful owners.

Author's Note: Hello again, everyone! Aside from the warnings in the first chapter, most of the story from this point on will be in the Rondo of Blood setting. Spoiler alert: There is one small detail about saving Iris. Shoutout to my first reviewer! With that out of the way, chapter two lies before you...

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><p>Reimu was approaching the large doors of the Scarlet Devil Mansion uninterrupted. The gate guard that was supposed to stop her was sleeping soundly at her post. Before the shrine maiden could even knock once, one of the doors opened to reveal Remilia with a small smile to greet her guest.<p>

"Good morning, Reimu. How was your slumber?"

"Good morning to you as well, Remilia. It was okay. I just wanted to make this quick so I could get back to sleeping-I mean sweeping." the shrine maiden informed with a sweatdrop going down her forehead.

"Oh, well, thank you, Reimu. We're about to get to sleep so this is quite the timing." Remilia responded with a small smile of approval despite the guest's uneasy appearance.

"It's not a problem. Here." Reimu handed the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion a small jar full of white powder. "Make tea, put in a teaspoonful of it, and drink it. Oh, and be close to bed because it will happen before you know it. Enjoy your sleep!" she waved with a smile as she quickly took off, eager to get back to her rest.

"Maybe she should take some herself. Oh, well." Remilia closed the large doors and ventured into the hallway to fetch her sister from her bedroom. _"Wait. She just gave me the whole jar. I could make Flan take more now."_ She continued her walk through the long hallways before stopping in front of the bulk door of her sister's bedroom in the basement. "Flan, are you ready for this?"

"Yes, sister." the young-looking blonde responded from her room. Remi unlocked the grey door and saw her sibling sitting on her bed.

"Well, let's go have tea." The two headed out of the basement, towards the master bedroom-Remillia's room. Flandre caught sight of the jar in her sister's hands and had to ask why she brought it along.

"Remi, what's the jar of white for?"

"Reimu gave it to me because she was restless. This is that special ingredient she was talking about for the tea." the elder sister explained calmly while making sure Flan didn't leave her side.

"But do you know how much to put in?" This made Remilia think more about making her sister's slumber longer or not.

"Yes. Simply a teaspoonful." Remi assured her sister while opening the door to her bedroom. "Come." Flandre hadn't been in her big sister's room in ages and felt special when being allowed inside. It was full of portraits of dark decoration and had a great array of pink, purple, and red colored around. The sisters saw two warm teacups on a silver tray by the large dresser near the master bed. Remilia placed the jar of white powder on the tray and opened the small lid. When opening it, a small cloud of white came from it and being curious, she breathed in some of it. Flandre was looking around the fancy bedroom when she heard a thud behind her.

"Remi?" Flan looked behind and saw her elder sister on the floor. "Remi! Wake up, Remi!" The elder vampire shook herself, opened her eyes, and found herself looking up at her teary-eyed sister. "Sister, you scared me!"

"What happened?" Remilia asked while picking herself up with a small headache.

"I heard you open that jar and fell down. It happened so fast." This made the older sibling astonished. She had only breathed it in and she was out cold a second later.

"I guess Reimu was right about it happening before I know it." She walked to the tray and picked up a teaspoon on it. She scooped a serving of the white powder and mixed it into one of the teacups. _"Should I put in more for her? Just a tad bit."_ She picked up another teaspoon from the tray and repeated the same process with the other teacup, but with an added half teaspoonful extra. "Better be next to bed if it'll come that fast. Oh, how long was I asleep for?"

"You were sleeping? You fell and I yelled your name three times before you moved again." Flandre wiped a few of her tears of worry away. Remilia felt as if she had just slept for ten hours, not ten seconds.

_"That stuff is really going to work."_ She handed her sister the teacup with extra powder mixed in before grabbing the other one with less for herself. "Have a good rest, Flan." She drank her tea and saw her little sister follow her example. Nothing happened in that moment of waiting. The two finished their tea and set the cups on the tray. "That's odd. Why didn't it work?" As if to just make her frustrated, she let out a huge yawn and felt her eyes heavy as if she hadn't slept in days. "Bed..." She quickly lied down on her bed and rested her head on her pillow.

"Good night, sister." Flan yawned lightly as she lied next to her sister and went to her dreamland.

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><p>Inside a large royal chapel was a blonde girl in pink treading past the many monsters in her way. She was summoning four sacred beasts through the use of magic to aid her on defeating many of the foes in her path. Just when she was about to launch an attack at an unsuspecting group of skeletons, she saw from the corner of her eye a girl in red sleeping on the carpetted floor.<p>

"H-Hello there." the young stranger in pink greeted the sleeping girl in red. She was unsure of waking up the girl, but she had been a prisoner earlier and was saved by an adventurer. She claimed she, herself, was an adventurer so why not try to save someone for a change? It was because this blonde girl in a red dress, matching single-strap shoes, yellow ascot, and white cap had two long metal bars sticking out from her back that had an assortment of diamond shards in beautifully different colors. Her wings were simply amazing to look at, but it was that oddity that made her be careful. "Please answer me."

"Ah..." Flan yawned for a moment. She opened her eyes and looked to her left to see a blonde girl in a pink dress on her knees next to her. "What is it?" She seemed human and if it was so, she would have to be careful around her.

"Um. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. This is a pretty scary castle to be in." This made the vampire rise from the floor and give the new stranger an uncaring look when she looked at her surroundings.

"My sister is scarier than what this whole place looks like. I'm Flandre Scarlet." Sure, she wasn't scared of her environment, but making a friend could ease her troubles. She offered her hand which the stranger took when she rose up.

"I'm Maria Renard. It's nice to meet you!" the twelve-year-old exclaimed with excitement at her new friend. When seeing the girl's small burst, Flandre felt more relaxed as she widened her smile.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, too!" Surely, her sister would have commented on her manners, but she wasn't around. She could be herself around Maria.

"What were you doing sleeping on the ground?" Flan became puzzled when she tried to make the girl in front of her ask something else. This was a dream so wasn't she supposed to do or get anything she wanted in it? She knew absolutely nothing about this new friend besides her name and the fact that she was a human. "Flandre?" The vampire returned to focus after drawling off in her thoughts for a moment too long.

"I was sleeping on the ground. That's what I was doing." Maria giggled at the answer she received.

"Okay, smart one, why were you sleeping on the ground?"

"Because I was tired." the girl in red replied quickly with a playful smirk.

"You slept in the middle of a castle full of monsters that could have-" Before the young adventurer could continue her observation, Flan interrupted by putting a finger on her lips.

"But they didn't thanks to my new friend." Maria threw aside whatever fear she had about this strange girl. There was a heap of silence after this before Maria moved Flandre's finger away.

"What's with the wings? Are you an angel?"

_"She thinks I'm an angel."_ Flan thought as she tried to reason telling the truth to her or not. "Why don't you tell me something about you, Maria? It can't be all me, you know."

"Oh. Okay. Sorry." Maria agreed after realizing that she has been very demanding in getting information. "Well, I'm twelve. I like the color green. And I'm a vampire hunter."

_"Uh oh."_ A part of Flan wanted the last part to be a lie while the other wanted to see if it was true. "You're a vampire hunter?"

"Yep! Watch!" the girl in pink said excitedly while summoning a green dragon to go tackle a row of undead skeletons about to approach the two. Flandre watched in shock as the green dragon flied for a few seconds and obliterated the five skeletons that were heading their way. She was used to seeing elemental magic around the mansion. This kind of magic was brand new to her. She now had a fear of admitting the truth to who she thought as a friend.

"You are a vampire hunter."

"I told you! So are you an angel?" Maria repeated with the same curiousity she had earlier.

"Sort of." Flan responded with low confidence.

"Yay!" Maria cheered with excitement in contrast to Flan's low confidence. But then that excitement faded when the girl in pink remembered that she had a few goals in mind. "Flandre, sorry to be rude, but I have to go look for my friend and go beat the bad man." the twelve-year-old informed with an apologetic voice.

"Can I come with you?" Flan asked eagerly.

"Of course! Just be careful around this place 'cause there are a lot of monsters. Let's go!" The huntress in pink dashed off right after that.

"Hey, wait up!" Flandre giggled as she chased after her new partner. She didn't want to show her power, though. She only ran as fast as a human girl in fear of Maria finding out that she was a vampire.

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><p>Among the vastness of the woods was a man in blue vanquishing the many skeletons that attacked him. He had traversed past the water rapids, but was returning to that place to retrieve an axe that he discarded earlier in favor of the dagger he currently had. Just when he was about to pick up the weapon, he spotted across the waterfall gap someone with black wings and in a pink dress sitting on the frog statue he thought sunk earlier. He left the weapon behind as he jumped over the gap and approached the stranger.<p>

"What a beautiful waterfall." Remilia sighed to herself while gazing at the natural structure a distance away. She was sitting on top of what looked like a statue of a frog.

"I guess it is." The thirteen-year-old look-alike turned to her left and saw a man with brown hair in a cut blue trenchcoat, yellow boots, white bandanna, and was storing a whip on his belt. "Sorry to interrupt, but are you a vampire?" His whip caught her attention instantly. She was powerless as a vampire currently, but still had a pair of large bat wings sticking out of her back. What was more shocking was that earlier she had seen her own reflection in the water. That was never supposed to happen. Was she going to have to fight this hunter without her powers? Was that her trial in this dream?

"Well, thank you for being polite to ask." she smiled at the hunter and surprised him. She took a deep breath and gazed back towards the waterfall. "I am." She saw the hunter place his hand on the whip from the corner of her eye.

"Aren't you going to try to take my blood?" Now that he brought it up, he was a human and she did want to satisfy her small growing hunger.

"I do want to, but that's only because I'm a little hungry. Would you be willing to give me some?" She turned and gave him a half-smile.

"No." he replied while raising an eyebrow at her.

"Come on, I just need a little sip. I'm not going to drain it all away. That would be rude of me to do to a gentleman like yourself." This time the hunter in blue had trouble resisting her charm so he reasoned in his mind.

"You said only a little. I will make sure you keep your word." the brown-haired adventurer pulled out a dagger and made a small cut in his index finger. "Here." She jumped down from the statue and immediately put her mouth around his finger. She instantly pushed herself away and spat out the blood in disgust.

"Bleh! That tasted revolting!" Remilia yelled in annoyance as she glanced at the hunter with a look of frustration. Then she had her eyes wide when she realized what she just said. "Your blood tastes bad..." That was impossible! She had always enjoyed her meals with that ingredient and here, it was not approved by her tongue. "I'm sorry. But I am... hungry and I thought..." She touched her left wing and felt its smooth skin in embarrassment.

"Here. Maybe this will help." The hunter pulled out a cooked turkey from from a white sack he had on his belt.

"What the..." she trailed off, not believing what she just witnessed. "Is that how you people store your food? How disgusting!"

"Just eat. This isn't disgusting. The fact where I found it is." he chuckled as he pulled out a white plate from the same white bag. He tore off two drumsticks and gave them to the vampire on the plate. He kept the rest of the turkey for himself. Remilia wanted to simply toss the food away, but the feeling in her stomach wouldn't leave so she took a bite of a drumstick.

"Hm. This tastes amazing." she admitted while continuing to eat. She sat down on the concrete floor with her legs crossed so she could place her plate atop of her pink dress. The adventurer copied her example, but instead held the large piece of meat with both of his hands and gnawed on it.

"It sure does." the blue hunter agreed while taking large bites of his large meat.

"My, what manners." the blue-haired girl observed the stranger.

"I'm sorry, but adventurers don't always have a tableset ready for them." She laughed inside at his explanation. He reminded her of Flandre-how she used to ravage her dinner each time because of her lack of control.

_"Flan, please be okay in your dream."_ After the two finished their meal, they rose up and looked at each other intently. "My apologies for the late introduction, but I am Remilia Scarlet." She offered her hand to the hunter that he took with a smile.

"My name is Richter Belmont. I'm a-" he hesitated for a brief moment. "I'm a monster hunter." Remilia rolled her eyes at this as she took her hand back.

"Oh, please! You're a vampire hunter and I'm a vampire." She frowned as she climbed onto the frog statue again. She hated being limited to her human strength, but did her best to dismiss her power loss with the fact that she still had her wings and felt she could still move them.

"Okay. I'm a vampire hunter and you tell me that you're a vampire..." He jumped onto the statue and sat next to her.

"What? You don't believe me? Just look at my wings." He looked for a long time at the black wings sticking out of the girl's back.

"I see them, but you don't like blood. From my understanding, vampires need blood to survive."

"Yes, I do. I don't know what's happened, but I don't even feel like a vampire anymore. If I had my power and someone had attacked me, I would have slashed them a thousand times before they even touched me." The hunter backed away from the girl when she said this and she noticed it. "I was just saying if. Sorry about that. Come to think of it, you're one of a few humans that came up to me reasonably."

"A few?"

"Yes, Richter. A few. Others that came up to me, I always..." She turned to Richter and tried to avoid the fact that he had a hand on his whip. "I always killed them."

"Remilia, I-"

"But that wasn't my intention to begin with. I was enclosed in my mansion and got my blood voluntarily from loyal servants much how like you offered me earlier." the blue-haired girl explained herself with best honesty. "I never killed a servant when I took their blood. One day, I receive the news that my parents were returning home. Not too long after, I hear that they were killed with a note describing their sins for siding with a demon." Richter changed his view about this girl when hearing this detail. "What are you supposed to do when what you need the most is lost like that?" He took his hand off of the whip as he continued listening to the words of this vampire. "What they intended to do in that act was frighten me to move away."

"Did you?"

"And leave all of my loyal servants behind?" the vampire revolted with a look of rejection.

"Sorry."

"Believe me, I was on the verge of killing, but I withdrew because of my little sister. She looks up to me." Remi paused momentarily and looked at her black wings. "I kept the death of our parents a secret from my sister and rarely left the mansion after that event. I had my servants doing everything for me." She took a deep breath and looked into the hunter's eyes. "But fate had to confront me one night on a full moon. I was away from the mansion to go stargazing and had told my sister to join me. But she said she wanted to listen to a long story one of my maids was telling her. She's five years younger than me so I wasn't going to force her. I wish I did..."

"What happened?" He didn't want to hear it, but Remilia had gotten him to be interested in her story.

"Those fools attacked my mansion and killed all my servants." The girl in pink paused for a long time before continuing. "They made my little sister be the craziest, blood-hungry vampire ever..." She closed her eyes in frustration as she remembered Flandre's breakout in the previous day. "I had to lock her away for 495 years because her power... was too much to control." Remilia just couldn't will herself to admitting fear, not even in this dream.

_"495 years?"_

"I was enraged-more than you'll ever see me in your lifetime. By the time I was done that night, every human in the village around my mansion was dead." She turned away from Richter when feeling anger pulse in her veins. "I used magic to transport me, my sister, and the whole mansion to another place. A place where I hoped we could start all over. It took a long time, but I'm glad that the mansion is alive again with new maids, new friends, and my sister..." Her anger faded and a small smile returned as she looked back to the hunter.

"That's good to hear." He blocked out the detail in his mind of her slaughtering every human in a village. From what he heard, she really loved her little sister and killed only when those humans intervened. He scooted right next to her and gave the vampire a hug. She flapped her wings in alarm, but calmed herself down and let him hold her.

"So if you're a vampire hunter, what do you plan on doing with me?" Remilia asked with some uneasiness in her voice. "I just told you something that I haven't even told my closest friends yet."

"If you bite me, I'll kill you. Ow!" He shouted as he looked at his hand and saw bitemarks on it.

"Go on." Richter sighed at her simple command and waved off her act.

"If you're evil, I'll kill you. If you're good, I won't." Richter rubbed his hand with his other hand to try to soothe the pain. She might not have pierced his skin, but her action twisted something in his hand.

"Did I really hurt it that much? Let me rub it for you." Remilia teased as she pushed away the hunter's other hand and rubbed the hand she bit with both of hers. He blushed at the act, not only because she was doing it for him, but because her hands felt unbelievably soft. His pain washed away within a short while and he tried to not look at her face.

"You make me feel like a kid..." he muttered lowly under his breath. He wanted to take his injured hand back, but her touch was irresistable.

"All humans are younger than me. Tell me, how old do you think I am?"

"You look thirteen, but you're probably over 500 years old." he answered, having gotten information from her story.

"You paid attention to my tale after all! I'm 517 years old. My sister is 512 years old." Remilia informed the adventurer while continuously rubbing his hand.

"Where is she?" Richter questioned with obvious curiousity. What kind of a dream was this? Remilia felt as if she was legitimately living this episode. She couldn't read his mind or know anything about him that he didn't tell her about. And she answers him, despite the fact that they may never carry on after the dream.

"I don't know her whereabouts at the moment." she told him with a soft tone. She knew he would keep asking so she continued, "I was resting in my mansion and when I wake up, I'm here looking at this waterfall." The blue-haired girl thought to herself before proceeding, "Then I found this vampire hunter that fed me, listened to me, charmed me-" She had a small shade of red go on her cheeks as she quickly thought of another thing to say. "I mean alarmed me..." It was only a brief moment that she had mentioned him charming her, but he had heard it clearly. He took his hand away from her rubbing.

"I think I had better go. It was nice meeting you, Remilia." Richter stood up and jumped off the frog statue. He ran some distance, but looked back and saw the vampire looking at him with sorrow in her eyes. _"No! Don't get charmed by her! She's a vampire! She-"_

"Forgive me, Richter. I don't travel outside of the mansion very often. It was a pleasure meeting you... And..." She hesitated, unsure of whether to admit her feeling or not. "Thank you for sparing me."

_"Damn it!"_ the blue hunter shouted in his mind. "If it's no trouble for you, how would you like to tag along with me? There is a vampire out there that I do need to vanquish." This offer made the blue-haired girl replace her sorrow with a smile.

"I would love to." Her eagerness in that response was relentless to the adventurer. Why didn't he offer Iris or Tera, the prisoners that he rescued earlier, to join him on his quest?

_"I told them to be safe and go home."_ He nodded to the blue-haired girl while still thinking to himself. Why had he allowed Maria to join him? _"She has magic. She looks like she can do okay."_ But it was the fact that Maria and him were separated that finally settled in. That's why he didn't want the others to join him. He didn't know where she was at the moment, but he hoped that she'll pull through. In the middle of his thoughts, Remilia leaped off the stone frog and landed on her feet in front of Richter. "Yeah. And I need to go rescue somebody." The hunter remembered that his primary reason to go on this adventure was to rescue his girlfriend, Annette, who was kidnapped and was being held prisoner somewhere in the castle he was venturing towards. Beating up Dracula was just following that.

"Is it a guy or a girl?" Richter facepalmed himself when hearing that question.

"It's a girl." This response hurt Remilia inside, but now she knew why he didn't return affection to her.

"Alright, then. Where to, my hero?" The vampire smiled slyly at him.

"I haven't even rescued you or anything." Richter retorted as he tried to push away the idea of her liking him. Maria didn't like him, did she? No, she had even said to be friends.

"Okay. You do know that vampires aren't supposed to touch water, right?" Remi rolled her eyes with her question.

"Yes. I know that." the whip-user responded casually. Remilia walked to the edge of the cement floor and gazed at the water rushing below. _"Oh, hell no."_ He followed her and put a hand on her left shoulder. "Don't do it. You know better than that."

_"I know this is a dream, but..."_ Before she finishes her thought, she is shoved over the edge by an abnormally large, green frog. "Wah!" She turned around and grabbed the edge of the platform quickly. Her left foot's pink boot merely tapped the rushing water below and splashed a small amount of it into the air. But when that water touched Remi's leg, she felt it sting with coldness. "Ahh!"

_"Damn! I knew I should have killed all the frogs!"_ Richter whipped the frog and knocked the life out of it. He then grabbed the vampire's hands and pulled her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I wasn't planning on jumping in. I was just going to look at my eyes." This time she hugged the hunter and didn't want to let go. "I think I've enjoyed the waterfall for too long. Let's go rescue your friend."

"Y-Yeah. As soon as you let go of me." he responded nervously. He caught her scent and thought it smelled fairly well for a vampire that had to drink blood.

"Right. My apologies." Remilia released the hunter and backed away while looking away. To Richter, it looked like she was embarrassed more than he was nervous. He needed to change that to not have a quiet time in the adventure ahead.

"It's alright now." he assured her with his trademark smile. He drew in a deep breath before continuing, "And you have beautiful, blue eyes if you still wanted to know." Remilia felt ecstatic at the compliment, but hid it behind a smirk. She approached the hunter and offered her hand to him. He wasn't charmed by her or anything. At least he didn't think so, but she had a quality he couldn't identify that he liked.

"Let's go, my prince." Remilia was the Queen of the Night. By the the end of the trial, she hoped to make him king. She didn't care if this was just a dream-she would make the best of it. The hunter grabbed her hand lightly and the two made their way out of the waterfall scenery. _"Blue eyes? Have I really lost my vampirism?"_

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><p>Author's Note: The Scarlet sisters have met with two vampire hunters. Flandre has her full power while Remilia is left with none. What will become of the two as they each progress through the castle alongside a vampire hunter? Fare well for now!<p> 


	3. 03 Insight

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners.

Author's Note: Welcome back! This chapter revolves around Flan and Maria getting to know each other more in two peculiar ways. Also, this is my first shot at an action scene so I gave it my best go. Thank you for the cool reviews so far as the suggestions were helpful in getting me going with this chapter. With all that said, chapter three awaits...

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><p>Flandre and Maria had treaded through the rest of the royal chapel without trouble. This was mostly because of Maria summoning her green dragon to vanquish any and every foe that impeded the two girls' progress. The duo went through a wooden door and entered what seemed like a hallway that was falling apart because of the missing bricks in the walls. Flandre turned around immediately when hearing the door shut abruptly.<p>

"Maria?" Flan called out to her companion about to walk down a flight of stairs. She was staring at the area where there should be a handle to open the door.

"Yes, Flandre?" The young huntress turned around and saw her friend looking at the wooden door they just entered through. "Oh. Don't worry. Everything in this creepy castle goes one way." Maria smiled to assure her winged partner.

"Okay." Flandre knew she could have her hand tear through the door given her incredible strength, but the fear of revealing herself as a vampire to this vampire hunter held her back. They were friends. Why would she want to lose a friend and make an enemy in a simple action? Flan didn't believe she was evil, but hiding the truth wasn't exactly a good thing.

"Hey, Flandre, how did you get those colors for your wings?" The vampire's attention was shifted to her curious companion's question. Remi had told her that she was supposed to have black bat wings like any other vampire.

"Um... My sister said it was because I liked having a lot of fun." Flan answered as she walked next to Maria and glanced at the floor below them.

"Your sister? The one that you said was really scary?"

"Yep. She's scary, but she's the best." Maria could only wonder how it was like to have a sibling. Flandre walked down the stairs alongside her partner and spotted three doorways ahead on the left followed by another wooden door straight ahead. "Are you sure it all goes one way?"

"I'm sure I'm sure! I know it's dumb, but you're going the right way when you see those brown doors." the huntress explained while rubbing her yellow hair. "That's how I found you!" Deep inside, Maria felt ashamed of hiding one detail away from her friend. _"But that's how I lost Richter..."_

"That makes sense." Once the two finished descending the stairs, Flandre looked behind the staircase to see a vibrantly white object inside the cracks of the greenish-colored wall. "Hey, Maria, there's something inside that wall. I'm gonna see what it is." The vampiress approached the wall and peered into the large crack of the wall. She gasped and dug out the loose stone pieces of the wall to reveal a huge perfectly baked round cake decorated with fruit and whip cream all on top of a large, blue plate. What made her more shocked was that the pastry had eight blue candles lit up. "It's a big cake..." The huntress joined her friend's side and saw the delicacy that reached up to her stomach.

"Wow." Maria awed at the desert and continued looking at its features. _"Richter was right when he said he found his lunch in a wall."_

"Happy birthday, Maria!" Flan yelled in pure joy. Maria could only smile at her energetic partner.

"But I'm twelve, not eight." This made the girl in red ponder for a short moment before coming to a conclusion. She split apart four candles in half very carefully, placed them in equal spaces apart from the other eight candles, and lit them all with one of the original candles. "Oh, Flan..." Maria laughed lightly at this and hugged her fellow adventurer. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." the vampiress responded by returning the embrace. Maybe she could tell her the truth afterall. After a short amount of time, the two separated and looked at each other. "Now blow out the candles and make a wish!"

"Okay." the huntress in pink agreed and turned to look at the twelve candles burning brightly. Her happiness slumped down into a frown as she remembered her last birthday. Flandre knew something was amiss with the long silence so she turned her friend to face her.

"Maria, what's wrong?"

"It's that in my last birthday I made a wish just like I'm about to right now. I wished that I could help my dad beat the bad vampire." Maria paused and sniffled in preparation for the tears to come. "But that wish won't come true anymore! My mom and dad were killed..." Flandre wrapped her arms around her friend when seeing the watery eyes Maria had. This was brand new to her. It would always be her older sister trying to make her feel better when she was sad. But she had never cried or seen anyone cry before.

"By who?" It took a lot of effort for the vampiress to not sound demanding.

"It was a skeleton monster covered in green that had two swords." the twelve-year-old replied with some sharp breaths in between. "It happened so fast and when it looked at me, I thought I was done." Maria continued with a bit of hesitation. "I don't know what happened, but something made me go to sleep right there because when I opened my eyes again, I was being carried by Richter."

"Who's Richter?" Flandre asked out of simple curiousity.

"He's my friend. He's a vampire hunter like me except he's really strong. And..." The huntress brushed away her tears before continuing. "Flandre, we were going to go through the castle together, but I wanted to go one way when he wanted to go another and I lost him." Flan was disappointed when hearing this, but she merely rolled her eyes as she let go of her companion. "I'm sorry I was..."

"Don't be sorry, Maria. We haven't gotten stuck anywhere so you have to be right about the castle going one way." Flandre interrupted with an assuring smile to back it up. "And your wish can still come true. You just have to keep going."

"Aw, thank you, Flan..." Maria was grateful for the support she was getting and now knew what her wish would be.

"Now blow the candles! I'm hungry and this cake looks amazing!" the young-looking vampiress told the huntress with a playful sense of urgence.

"You can't eat it all, silly!" That was all Flandre needed to know that her cheerful partner was feeling better. "It's huge!"

"You can't either! Bleh!" The girl in red stuck out her tongue at her partner in pink. Maria giggled at the act before blowing out the flames of all twelve candles in one long breath. "Ooh! What did you wish for?"

"It's a secret." With that, Flandre took all the used candles from the top of the cake and tossed them aside onto the floor. She would find out the answer sooner or later, but for the moment, the cake was calling to her. _"I wished you would be my best friend."_

"Time to eat!" It only took two handscoops of the desert for Flan to be stuffed, but something was wrong because she still felt hungry. Maria only took one handscoop of the cake and felt as if her health was completely restored. Flandre ate an orange slice off of the cake, but her stomach continued demanding for more despite the fact that she was full.

"Let's go, Flandre. We can't take it with us." Maria tugged at her partner's hand to lead her to the brown door they saw earlier.

"Yeah. Let's." the vampiress replied lowly with annoyance. _"Why am I still hungry?"_ The two walked across the long hallway and passed the three doorways without concern. Maria opened the wooden door and held it open for her friend. "Thanks." Now Maria knew something was wrong with Flandre because she was lacking her excitement. Before the huntress could ask her friend in red what the problem was, the brown door shut tight behind her with a loud echo.

"Phew. That was close." the twelve-year-old said while wiping away an imaginary sweatdrop on her forehead. Almost immediately after she said that, the floor around the door rose up quickly to completely seal off the door. "Well, that's dumb. The door only opens one way anways." Flan nodded in response to that observation. The two now looked around the new area they were in. On the opposite side of the room was a large pale white statue of a man sitting on a throne motioning for something to come to his hand. There were many more bricks missing from the walls and there were two, large barred windows on the left. Several pillars of a bronze color surrounded the stone statue that was across the room. Five platforms were sticking out of the wall above the two girls. The last detail was the one elegant silver doorway on the left with dual brown doors blocking its entry.

"There's only one way to go just like you said." Flandre informed and walked towards the doors. However, she felt a few tremors across the floor that made her know that something was coming. She backed away and looked at her friend with curiousity. "What is it?"

"I don't know, but be ready." Maria warned with obvious concern. Not too long after, the dual doors smashed apart into many pieces that landed on the floor. After the dust settled down, Flandre and Maria were both looking at a large axe where the doors had been at. The monster wielding the axe revealed itself as it entered the area slowly. It had the body of a man with the head of a bull-it was a minotaur. The two girls saw that the beast had a grass skirt to shield its private part and two mini grass anklets. What was more revealing was that this bull had a physical appearance of being greatly in shape with muscles all around his body. The brown minotaur turned to the two intruders and stood still with his axe.

_"What mockery is this? Neither of these is the hunter that I was told about."_ the beast thought in his in confusion. He looked at the two's appearances and thought that they were both young girls who had become lost in this castle. In that case, he spent a lot of time planning an epic entrance for nothing. But why had they ventured this far? Maybe they had been prisoners and were trying to escape.

"Maybe he's friendly." Flan suggested in a relaxed manner. The towering being turned to Flandre and looked at her right hand. He saw that she had a few remnants of whip cream.

_"No."_ He poked a finger at her hand and brought it up to his nose to sniff. _"They did."_ He let a loud moan as he clenched his long axe with both hands.

"I think that was his cake. Oopsie." Maria alerted her partner with worry.

_"I thought no one would ever think of finding it in a wall!"_ He backed away and temporarily put his hand on his forehead.

"But we only ate a little. We're sorry-" The hunger in Flandre's stomach returned before she could finish apologizing properly. "Oh..."

"Hmm?" the bull creature hummed audibly as he bent down to the girl in red.

"I'm hungry. Sorry." Flandre advised as she smiled playfully and suddenly leaped at the beast. Her fangs sank into the neck of the minotaur and leeched the blood out of him.

"Ahh!" the large brute hollered in a loud moan as he grabbed the girl and threw her aside. He already felt weakened by the amount of blood she just took from him. Maria couldn't believe what she just saw and gasped at the sight of red blood around Flandre's mouth. _"She bit me... But then she must be-"_

"A vampire..." Maria mumbled lowly as she backed away from the girl in red.

"Hahahaha! I like playing, too!" the vampiress giggled as she lifted herself off of the floor and stood back up on her two feet. A sinister red aura suddenly surrounded Flandre and created an immediate tense atmosphere in the area the three were in. The minotaur stood his ground with determination. The child had attempted to apologize, but the bloodlust got the better of her. He knew this had to be the case because his master happened to be a vampire and had a similar problem at one point.

_"Just like the master..."_ the muscle-bound beast observed as he recalled his master having a similar ability to manipulate the area around him. He lifted his staff-like axe and held it in defense for what was to come.

"Oh! I have my own little helper, too!" Flandre aspirated with excitement in her voice. She twirled around on one foot and raised her right hand high.

_"She stole my idea..."_ Maria thought as she continued watching from a safe distance.

"Taboo: Laevatain!" A burst of flames extended in two ways from Flan's open hand. When the flames faded away a second later, a long, curved metal rod was in her hand. It had a heart shape at one end and a claw shape on the other. That was all Maria needed to see to take off running towards the doorway where the minotaur had entered from. The vampiress twirled the weapon in her hand a few times before getting into her fighting stance. "Let's play!" The sword in Flan's hand burst into flames when she began to swing it. The minotaur observed the motion of the weapon and immediately saw the flames shoot out across the room. He jumped a great height backwards and landed on a platform sticking out of the left wall.

_"I must tire her from this state."_ the brute pondered as he saw the flames from the girl's weapon return to her.

"Huh?" Flan questioned aloud to herself. She made the flames on her weapon vanish and looked over the appearance of her sword. "Where are all the little red dots?" She swung her weapon with more focus and made a pillar of fire burst from it towards her opponent. The minotaur jumped away onto a higher platform and narrowly avoided the attack as well as hitting the ceiling. But danger came around when seeing the flame passing in front of him release red blips of energy in his direction.

_"Red spikes of death."_The large beast ducked to avoid one shot above him while he spread his legs to avoid the other below him.

_"I have to stop her." _Maria peered from the doorway for a moment. "Ahh!" she yelled and immediately backed away to barely save herself from a scorching slash. The huntress recollected some of her courage and looked back outside of the doorway.

"You big, scary scaredy-cat! I'm not gonna let you hide from me!" Flan laughed as she glanced up at the floor where she knew the minotaur was at. She leaped into the air only to land back down on her two feet. "What?" The vampiress turned to her left wing and used all her focus to try to make it move. "But..." Even though it only lasted for a few seconds, Maria had seen the sadness in Flandre's face because of the wings that did not want to give her flight. To Flandre's surprise, the muscle-bound creature jumped down from the platform and landed directly in front of her. His landing caused his left hand sink into a crack of the tiled floor and made the vampiress laugh for a short moment. "Haha! Your hand is stuck!"

"Er!" the bull yelled as he tossed up five tiles at his enemy. Flandre stopped her laughter and looked at the obstacles coming her way with excitement. She dodged all five floor pieces with envious speed in a zig-zag. Her confidence made her stop in front of the brown beast who had taken in a large breath before her pause. The minotaur released his breath in the form of a raging fire that Flandre narrowly dodged in a roll to her right.

"You have bad breath." the vampiress smiled as she swung the Laevatain swiftly at him.

_"That is true I'm afraid."_ the minotaur thought as he leaped onto the platform above her to dodge her slash.

"You can't hide from me!" Flandre thought as she ran to the stone statue and turned around to face the minotaur that was on a higher level. "Forgotten Barrier: Claustropho..." Flan yelled with eagerness that went downhill a second after she trailed off. "No, that's the new one that I haven't finished yet..." The minotaur scratched the side of his head and wondered what this youth was up to.

_"The master doesn't declare his attacks. Why is this girl?"_ He saw the vampiress raise both of her hands high and became alert for the oncoming attack.

"Forbidden Barrage: Catadioptric!" Flandre threw both her arms down and pointed them at the bull with the body of a man. Out of her hands came one large purple energy sphere that flew at the minotaur.

_"Purple orb of death..."_ the large brute thought as he jumped onto a higher, but smaller floor above him. His fear rose when seeing many slower smaller white energy shots trail after the large purple shot. And to top it all off, the large purple energy ball bounced off of the wall and continued its journey. _"Don't you dare use another."_

"Hahahahaha!" Flandre laughed hysterically as she threw her empty hand in different directions and launched the sphere that was the size of her from each point. Maria saw the area quickly get filled with bouncing magical balls of white and some stray shots were heading in her direction.

"Wah!" The huntress slid to her left to avoid the fury of a few faster moving obstacles.

_"It looks like she won't rest with this attack of hers."_ the minotaur thought as he formulated a plan to stop her assault. He saw a clear path to the slightly higher platform in front of him and dashed onto it. Unexpectantly, a stray white orb went towards his face and he wasn't feeling sure to dodge it so he blocked his face with the head of his axe. When feeling the magical ball hit, the minotaur moved the axe from his face and smirked. _"I wonder..."_ He dropped down below and landed in front of the girl in red. Her red aura was becoming more and more dense that it almost felt as if he was burning up from how close he was to her.

"Ya!" Flan yelled as she pointed both arms at the brute in front of her. A large purple sphere came out of her hands, but that was all she saw before finding herself on the floor. All the rebounding obstacles disappeared a short moment afterwards. Flandre rose up and became a bit irritated at what just happened. "Oh, yeah? Bet you can't block this!"

_"Doesn't she know that she has a weapon in her hand?"_

"Taboo: Maze of-" Flandre's declaration was cut short when feeling the blunt end of the minotaur's axe impact her stomach. "Ow!" Her playfulness disappeared as she rubbed her injured spot. "Y-You cheater!"

_"Cheater?"_ the minotaur puzzled as he had chosen to hurt her, not pierce her.

"That wasn't fair! We're playing until you break now!" the vampiress announced with a pout. She ran to the brute and swung at him with her dark wand. He blocked the attack expertly with his axe's staff and went in for an elbow. Flan dropped her attack and slid underneath the axe to avoid the elbow that was coming. She kicked her foot at the minotaur's left leg and swung it around to cause him to trip backwards.

_"Unreal!" _the beast thought as he jumped back up only to fall back down again.

"That's what you get for being a naughty cheater!" Flandre laughed as she backed away and twirled her sword up into the air. When it came back down, she caught it perfectly with her right hand. She then pointed her left hand at her enemy and made it into a claw shape. "Taboo: Kagome, Kagome!" When the bull creature rose once again, he saw himself surrounded by numerous nonmoving green energy orbs. This made him feel as if he was trapped in a cage, but he was going to break out. He swung his axe at the floating green energy and knocked them towards the vampiress that was about to call forth another attack. Flandre bent down on her knees in disappointment before she rose up with a sinister look in her face. "Play... fair!" She swung her sword at the brute and had it blocked again by the axe. But this time she was frustrated and took another swing to his side. The minotaur blocked it once again and saw that a few sparks came out of that collision.

_"She is as strong as me."_ The minotaur buried his empty hand into the tiled floor, instantly alerting the youth attacking him.

"Again?" Flandre questioned with annoyance as she leaped away. However, the minotaur locked his weapon with hers in such a manner that she let go of the curvy sword by accident. "No!" She dove back for her prized possession, but was hit at point blank with all five cement tiles the minotaur threw up. Flan landed on her rear with a thud as her wings rattled around with an echo. She shook herself, looked at the minotaur that had caught her off guard, and saw that the Laevatain was still locked with his battle axe. The huntress continued watching as the moment was getting tense. After what seemed like hours, but was ten seconds, the bull tossed the dark sword at his opponent. Flandre caught it with her right hand and once again became confused. "What are you doing?"

_"Being fair apparently."_ He pointed his empty hand at her with a smirk. He then turned it over and motioned for her to come at him. Flandre smiled devilishly as she rose from her spot and stood on her feet.

"You're fun! Let's keep playing!" she yelled with happiness and hopped a few times to show it.

"Is this really a game for you, Flan?" Maria muttered to herself as she backed into the doorway. Flandre ran her left hand through the colorful prism shards on her left wing and created a white energy ball in her hand.

"Forbidden Barrage: Starbow Break!" the vampiress shouted as she threw the white orb to the ceiling. The minotaur had jumped back, but found himself gazing at the white object for the moment. Even Maria was confused when seeing the attack go where the bull wasn't at. Flandre merely giggled as she raised her empty, open hand, and pointed it to the orb before it touched the ceiling. Then she sharply clenched her hand into a fist. "Kyuu!" To Maria's amazement and the bull's horror, the white ball burst into a rainbow of many equally sized energy balls that rained down all around the area at different speeds.

"Ey!" the bull yelled sharply at the first injury on his shoulder from a purple-colored energy sphere. Flandre laughed as she prepared another white orb in her empty hand. The minotaur dodged shots while he started swinging at a few to the vampiress. Trouble was approaching when she threw another ball of white towards the ceiling. The bull creature ignored all of the pain from the first wave of rainbow orbs as he leaped from platform to platform to rise to the ceiling. He swung his axe and knocked the white orb away before it could touch the ceiling, but a small explosion happened directly on his right after he did so. The brute looked at his favorite weapon and saw the axehead vaporized as he held onto the green staff._ "No."_ The beast moaned in frustration as he threw aside the useless piece of metal and dropped down below.

"Oops. Haha." Flandre laughed playfully as she unclenched her fist. The two girls saw the bull creature crack several tiles on his landing.

"Arr!" the minotaur groaned as he kicked his left foot back three times in anger. "Err!" A bright green energy formed around his right fist as his veins became extremely sickening in appearance on his right arm.

"Flandre!" Maria called out to the vampiress to alert her of the danger she was seeing. Flandre turned towards the voice and shook her head a few times.

"Maria?" She had completely ignored her companion in all this action. Her red aura quickly vanished as her diabolical smile faded away. The leftover magical orbs disappeared as well. The only thing that had not gone away was the anger in the minotaur. He had returned her weapon, but she had ruined his. Flandre ran to the angered beast and wrapped her arms around his leg. That was one of the things her sister would do when she had been out of control just like yesterday. "Sorry."

_"Sorry? Her bloodlust has left and I was about to kill her."_ the minotaur thought as he felt incredible burning pain in his body. He had willed his life energy as strength to his right arm and was now quickly losing himself. _"Success."_ He lightly pushed away the vampiress with his left hand before he moaned in despair to the ceiling. A magical red beam came from his mouth as a ghostly purple energy surrounded his body. Both Maria and Flandre cringed at the sight of the beast losing his muscles and becoming reduced to nothing but bones. When all the magic was gone, the skeleton frame landed on the tiled floor in a jumbled mess. After a short while of looking at the fallen minotaur's bones, Maria approached Flandre with nervousness.

"Flan, you're a vampire?" Flandre knew there was nothing to hide now so she nodded in response.

"Yeah. I was gonna tell you, but then you said you were a vampire hunter and I was..." the girl in red looked to the floor before continuing, "I was scared."

"You were scared of me?" the huntress asked disbelievingly. "But why? You have all this power!"

"Because you're my friend..." Flan replied with sadness in her voice. "I don't have a lot of friends back home and I didn't want to lose a friend. Sorry." the vampiress explained and closed her eyes in shame. She opened them again within a few seconds and focused on the huntress with hope. "Are we still friends?"

_"What would Richter do?"_ Maria pondered in silence at the problem she was in. She was a vampire hunter and Flandre was a vampire, but they gotten along really well in the time that they spent together. Flandre was only like this because she needed blood and now that she thought about it, Flan hadn't tried to take it from her. So the huntress embraced the vampiress with relaxation.

"So we are?" Flan repeated to try to get an answer she could hear. She returned the hug as she awaited the response.

"Sure. But only if we're best friends." the huntress assured with a playful voice.

"Okay." Flandre giggled at the deal.

_"My birthday wish came true! Yay!"_ The two adventurers broke apart before looking at each other with cheerfulness. "Well, let's keep going."

"Wait." The youthful vampiress advised as she turned to the wall that had risen up and blocked the door they had came from earlier. She pointed her open left hand at the wall and stared at the center of the collection of bricks. She then suddenly clenched her fist. "Kyuu!" The wall exploded outwards in a mess of bricks as the door was revealed. She repeated the same gesture with her hand and focused on the brown door. "Kyuu!" The wooden door burst into a massive collection of splinters. Maria was astonished by this ability and made a note to herself to not make her friend upset. Flandre dashed through the clearing and into the hallway from earlier. When she returned, she was carrying the large cake on a blue plate from earlier.

"Oh." Maria now understood what her companion was doing. Flan placed the oversized pastry in front of the collection of bones and gave a small smile.

"Maybe he'll get up like those skeletons we were fighting earlier." the vampiress informed with eagerness. The twelve-year-old nodded and agreed. "Let's go, best friend!" Flandre announced and ran off through the doorway that the minotaur had entered from.

"Hey, wait for me!" Maria hollered as she chased after her vampire friend. Her happiness dropped when seeing many rooms with bars and all the large axes stained with red up ahead. _"Not the dungeon..."_

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><p>Author's Note: Flandre and Maria or well, Flandre defeated the minotaur! And Flan has been accepted as Maria's friend even though she is a vampire! But the two were in for trouble as they encounter the darkest portion of the castle... See you next time!<p> 


	4. 04 Intervention

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners.

Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I've got to say that this chapter was a blast to write. I think I've repeated the warnings enough so that has been dealt with. Let me trouble you no more for today and enjoy the chapter!

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><p>Remilia and Richter were just about to head out of the waterfall scenery. The only problem was the large green frog waiting on the other side of the gap between the waterfall and the forest. It didn't appear that it would move anytime soon as it croaked in place repeatedly. Richter would have whipped it, but his weapon wasn't long enough to reach across.<p>

"How sad that you can't even escort me across this hole." Remilia commented, waiting for the vampire hunter by her to take action. Richter looked away to avoid her toothy grin.

"It's waiting to push us off just like you earlier." the blue hunter advised in defense. He clutched his whip tightly in frustration at the oversized amphibian embarrassing him in front of this girl.

"Uh!" The vampiress pouted and glared at the frog about half her size. "I'll get rid of it, then!" She leaped towards the other side of the gap and gave a sudden hard flap to give her a boost in the air. After landing gracefully, she turned around and looked at the green monster croaking with great hatred. "Get away from here!"

Richter laughed when seeing his companion kick the unsuspecting frog into the waterfall. Wait. She did just kick that frog. Whenever he touched any monster, it always hurt. That's why he was used to his whip. That's why his adventure has been a difficult one. That's why he had no idea on how to confront this frog in the first place.

"Are you just going to stand there? I didn't think beating a frog was so impressive, but if that's the case, you really ought to meet a pesky fairy in my world." the youthful mistress suggested with a conceited smirk.

"Behind you!" the whip-user warned of the skeleton just about to tackle his partner down. Remilia turned around quickly with seriousness, but was still pushed down into the gap by the undead monster.

"Wah!" Remi yelled in her fall. It was short lived, though, because out of shear luck, she landed on a wooden raft going down with the waterfall. Richter saw this and jumped off to land next to his partner before the vessel got away. When the raft splashed onto the river below, Remi closed her eyes to brace herself for the water to come, but instead felt herself lifted up. "Thanks."

"Leave it to me." Richter smirked as he set the vampiress back down on her feet. His smirk dissolved when seeing the raging river being the guide of their small raft. "We're in for one wild ride, Remilia."

"And that skeleton has followed us." Indeed the skeleton from earlier was now on its own raft a short distance away and was wielding a wooden spear with a silver arrowhead.

"You have wings. You can use them to get away."

"And leave you behind to enjoy this excitement alone? No way." Remi denied with some eagerness. Richter turned to face the skeleton while she turned to focus on the flapping she felt close behind her.

"Ya!" Richter whipped at the skeleton only to see it jump out of the attack's way. _"Crap. He's smart."_ The skeleton's raft moved in closer and thrusted its spear to the hunter. Richter dodged the attack and was about to grab the spear to yank it away, but saw the wood covered with dripping purple liquid. _"Poison. He's very smart."_ The whip-user attacked with his whip again to which the skeleton jumped again. While Richter was dealing with the skeleton pursuing them, Remilia was looking curiously at a blue eagle flying in front of her with a brown treasure chest chained to its legs.

_ "Come, you bird. I just need to have those little gifts in that box of yours."_ the blue-haired youth thought and held out her arms towards it. She sighed in disappointment and annoyance when the bird kept flying at its same distance away. _"Hey, how are you flying like that when we are heading down the river?"_ Remilia puzzled with an odd interest. "_Levitation? Yes, that has to be it. I mean I have wings, but I can go through the sky without even using them. Except in this dream where I really need to use them."_ The vampiress continued watching how the eagle was flapping continuously as it watched her carefully.

"Ha!" the blue hunter exclaimed as he tried to hit the skeleton again. The undead being leaped with a smirk as he raised his spear higher. Richter sneered at this before ducking to avoid the slice through the air. He saw the slice almost make its mark on his distracted partner and grew angry at the skeleton. Without much thought, he ran two steps before jumping off of the raft. _"This bastard is dead! Wait..."_ The hunter landed on the opposing raft and glared at his enemy. He saw the skeleton surprised by this act and took the opportunity to vanquish it with his whip. The mass of bones collapsed into a pile as the spear landed next to it. He faced the front to look at Remilia and saw her raft a great distance away for him to jump across. He also saw her trying to reach out for a treasure chest hanging from an eagle. _"Great."_ He became alarmed when seeing a purely metal spear land by the feet of the oblivious vampiress. Richter turned back and saw six skeletons on a raft trailing behind his. Five of them had spears and the one that didn't was the one that obviously threw his. _"I really hate water places."_

_"You mocking bird, come here!"_ Remilia sidestepped and felt something metallic under her foot. She looked down and saw that her foot was on top of the staff of a spear. "This will do just fine." The vampiress picked up the metal spear and held it tightly with both hands. She thrusted her new weapon to the chain of the eagle and yanked it back to pull the bird along. "Yes!" Remi broke apart the metal brace around the eagle's ankle and motioned him to fly off. After it did, she opened the small chest and peered inside at its contents. Inside was a blue cross, numerous vials of blue liquid, and a bible. _"A fine collection of things that can possibly kill me. Oh, well."_ The vampiress shrugged off the idea and pocketted the holy items in her pink dress. "Hey, Richter, this chest has..." Remilia was shocked when she turned around and saw her partner on another raft dealing with a pack of skeletons on yet another raft. He had done something foolish and risked his life to leap across the water. Now it was her turn. She picked up the metal spear with the silver arrowhead, ran a few steps, and jumped off of the raft. She flapped her wings sharply once to propel herself higher into the air. She smiled slyly when landing perfectly next to Richter.

"Whoa. Remilia, save the surprises for later."

"As you wish, my prince." Remi replied and thrusted her spear towards one of the skeletons. "Hah!" Richter was surprised when he saw that she landed her attack perfectly on the undead monster's forehead. She crouched to avoid a swipe from the skeleton that next to the one she vanquished. Richter unleashed his whip onto a skeleton about to throw its spear and vanquished it with satisfaction. He immediately attacked the one next to it and destroyed the foe as well. Remilia decided to imitate the skeletons and raised her spear higher with both hands. She then swung with all her strength and shattered a skeleton frame into two before it broke apart into two piles.

"You're pretty handy with that, you know." Richter commented with a thumbs-up.

"Thank you, Richter. I've had my fair share." Remi smiled to her partner's compliment. It was wondrous to know someone who appreciated her skill with the spear. Back in the mansion, nobody had ever said such a thing because they would be blinded by fear.

Two skeletons remained on the opposing raft. One was without his spear as his partner held a long piece of wood sharpened at the end to call it a spear. They both looked at each other and told each other something in silence before the two nodded. The skeletons ran a short distance before leaping off of the raft and aiming for the one Remilia and Richter were on.

"How foolish." Remilia said as she jabbed her weapon to the unarmed skeleton and knocked him into the raging water below. Richter, however, had a problem when the skeleton with the wooden spear tossed in mid-air and pierced the side of his arm.

"Gah!" the hunter yelled as he whipped the enemy back into the water. Remilia turned her attention to her partner and saw him holding his right arm with blood coming out.

"Richter!" She forced his partner to face her and quickly ran through her mind to come up with a solution.

"That hurt! But don't worry. I'll be okay." Richter informed as he pulled out a rotten turkey drumstick from the white sack on his belt and bit down on it. Remilia was about to undo the ribbon in her mobcap for Richter to use as a bandage.

"You are injured... And you eat that foul thing?" Her confusion escalated when the wound on Richter's arm vanished almost instantly.

"Yeah. It's how things work around here." The vampire hunter turned to face the front and saw an eagle carrying a brown sign. What alarmed him more was the cavern ahead of their path. "Remilia, our ride is just about over." Remi turned to his direction and saw what he meant by that. That eagle from before was carrying a wooden sign that she could not make out the lettering of with the speed they were going.

"Right." The two saw a large gap to where the river was leading into so they prepared themselves. When the timing was right, the duo ran and leaped across to land on the cavern floor. "That was a pleasant endeavor, wasn't it?"

"Y-Yeah. It looks like you got something out of it." Remilia smiled as she twirled the long weapon once with a smile.

"It sure does. But I'm sorry about getting us somewhere else."

"Not a problem. We're alive and that's what matters." Richter assured with his trademark smile.

_"We are alive and that is what matters."_ the vampiress thought in hidden happiness. Her dreamy thoughts were interrupted when a brown sign landed in front of her and the blue eagle from earlier sat atop of it. "Danger." As useless as the warning was by this point in time, Remi appreciated the effort the bird had put in returning to deliver the warning.

"Danger? Well, that's helpful." Richter chuckled when he read the sign. In contrast to Richter's humor, Remilia approached the bird and rubbed its feathery head a few times.

"Thank you." The eagle screeched lightly as it took flight into the night.

"You thanked a bird?"

"You ate a rotten piece of meat so shut it." Richter felt embarrassed with what he had done to restore his injury even though it was necessary. Arguing with her would be self-defeating so he sighed and looked deeper into the cavern.

"Let's go, Remilia." Richter told his partner as he walked on ahead and fell a few feet onto a floor below. Remilia followed by his side with a casual stroll as her grip on the spear eased. The pair then saw a purple figure holding a wooden oar in a small boat on top of settled water. Richter recognized that vibrant purple color and felt a sense of rage rise within him. Remilia, on the other hand, waited for her partner to continue the tread. _"It's that monster that tried to kill Maria."_ He tightened the grip on his whip and alerted the vampiress.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to kill him for trying to kill someone I know." This detail made the figure in purple turn around and glance up at the hunter in blue. Richter and Remilia now saw that the figure was a human and had a green robe wrapped around himself.

"Kill me for trying to kill someone you know?" the pale elderly man questioned with a shock. "Why, I have been travelling the waters all my life and never killed a human."

"Lies!" Richter shouted as he stepped forward and raised his whip. "I saw you conjure magic in a locked room to try to vanquish a little girl!" This made the stranger even more confused, but understood when he acknowledged the use of magic.

"My boy, I think you may be referring to the head dark priest, Shaft. Out of the few of us, he is the one that has been gifted with magic." the aged man explained as best as he could. "Those of us that remain tend to wear identical clothes."

"Us? So you take part in the misdoings as well?"

"I just told you that I have been travelling the waters all my life. My purpose with the cult is to be a ferryman."

"I don't believe it!"

"Richter, please!" Remi exclaimed to her partner that was trying to have his way. "Let the man fulfill his purpose and allow him to escort us across this watery cave." She looked with annoyance at Richter for his behavior toward this stranger. After a few tense seconds, Richter submitted to her partner with a heavier sigh than the last one.

"Fine. But only because you say so." Remilia sensed the anger in his voice. He was indeed frustrated at whoever had tried to kill one of his followers. She had that problem with her sister, too, but it wasn't Flan's fault that she became the way she was. She knew how hard it was to put off that built up anger.

"Look, Richter. I know you have feelings that you went to let out, but this is not the place. Your time for vengeance will come, but it's obvious that it should not be directed to this man." Remilia advised as she lightly took Richter's left hand and rubbed it. "Please. Trust me." Richter's anger faded when feeling the smooth skin and hearing the delicate voice of his partner. He felt at ease, but was disappointed once again for admitting defeat.

"Alright. I'm sorry."

"Apologize to the ferryman, my prince." Remilia ordered lightly while stopping her rubbing and locking her right hand with his left one.

"I'm sorry, sir." Richter apologized as he stored away his whip and bowed to the man in the boat.

"Rest easy, boy. No harm done. Now, get onboard for me to escort you to the next area." The ferryman turned around and awaited the two adventurers.

Remilia avoided mocking the hunter for his attitude and felt carefree with her hand interlocked with his. Richter took notice that she was still holding onto him, but did nothing to go against it because it would probably disappoint her. The two walked to the edge of the floor and jumped off at the same time towards the center of the boat. The two landed and created a wave of water to burst out from the boat, but nobody was wet. After the boat settled down, the ferryman rowed with graceful sweeps across the water. This only made Richter feel worse about misjudging the man for another. The trip only lasted for two minutes as the elderly man stopped rowing and pointed to a barred gate on the cavern floor for the two to look at.

"Thy destiny awaits." the purple-clothed man said eloquently as he gave a yellow key to Richter. Richter and Remilia broke the hold their hands had and climbed up the floor to confront the metal gate with a lock in it. The two glanced back for a second to see the ferryman rowing off to another location. _"That girl looked as if she was a vampire. No, she couldn't be."_

"Well, open it up and let's go." Remilia urged her companion with a look of eagerness. But something made her curious and look at the blue hunter. "Who was that little girl that you mentioned?"

"Her name is Maria Renard. I helped her out from that Shaft? Yeah, it's Shaft now." Richter answered and unlocked the metal gate while he did so.

"And where is she?" Remi tilted her head slightly to play innocent.

"I don't know. And before you gloat about it, yes, it was my fault." the hunter admitted lowly and threw open the metal gate. "She told me that she was a vampire hunter. I didn't believe her. She showed me a little magic and I believed her."

"A little?" the vampiress questioned with anticipation.

"Okay a lot. I let her join me on my adventure, but we lost each other right outside the prison when she decided to head upstairs when I wanted to continue searching for more prisoners."

"Well, why didn't you simply return to her?"

"That's the thing-I couldn't. I know you're going to think this is stupid, but there are these doors that only let people in, not out. I went through one and I couldn't go back to find her. I had just partnered up with her and I lost her like that." Richter eased down after a while and looked back at his companion. "Maybe she'll be okay. She was serious about joining me."

"Perhaps." Remilia trailed off when a she remembered a small detail that her partner had said earlier. _"That must be the girl he was talking about rescuing."_ She smiled deviously with her realization before asking her next question. "Do you like her?"

"Huh? N-No. We're just friends. She had even said so." the vampire hunter stuttered in slight embarrassment.

_"Yes! Then he is mine for the taking!"_

"Anyway, let's keep going. I hate knowing that she's alone." The two ventured into a cavern passage with several candles lighting up the area. In the center of the area was what appeared to be the end of an old-styled elevator with platforms continuously descending and rising along a chained line. On the other side of the passage was a number of stairs leading up.

"Hmm. Go up the stairs or take this elevator up? I think that is a simple choice. Let's go." Remilia smiled with confidence as she approached the elevator.

"Yeah. Let's." Richter agreed as walked past the machinery and headed towards the stairway. The vampiress took notice and crossed her arms in disappointment.

"Where do you think you're going? We can rest for a bit on this."

"No. I don't trust it. For all I know a grey boulder could land on us when we're going up on it."

"Yeah, well, maybe a grey boulder could roll down when we're going up the stairs!" Remilia exclaimed and stomped her left foot in annoyance.

"Remilia, I'm being honest. I don't trust this elevator." Richter tried to assert with a slightly louder voice.

"Fine! I'll fly up to see if it's true!" The vampire hunter panicked at hearing this and grabbed Remilia's right foot when she leaped up into the air. "Richter, let me go! I'll be back in a moment!" Remi slimmed her eyes at her companion holding her back from flying higher.

"Okay, Remilia, we'll go your way." Richter submitted to his companion's decision with fear in his eyes. Remilia easily detected the fear and was surprised. She stopped flapping her wings and landed in front of the hunter.

"I was only going to check. No need to worry."

"That's how me and Maria became separated. I'm not going to let it happen again." Richter stressed with great concern. "Now let's go... together." Remilia's heart pounded fast and hard when hearing this, but hid her feelings with a grin on her face.

"Good." Right when the vampiress said that, she heard an echoing voice that she instantly recognized. "No..." Remilia stared up into the frozen elevator while slimming her eyes.

"No?"

All of a sudden, a large crack of all sorts was heard a great distance above the duo. The two ran around the machine and immediately headed towards the stairs. In a few seconds, the cracking became louder and alerted the pair even more. Remilia couldn't believe what she heard, but continued to run alongside her companion. After a few moments, the cave began to shake.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Richter panicked and sweeped the youthful vampiress off her feet.

"Hey!"

Rocks started to fall from the cavern ceiling and made Richter all the more afraid. He ignored all the small pebbles landing on him and ran up the stairs in a mad dash. His fear became reality when he finally heard the cave collapse sharply behind him.

"Aw, hell!" The loudness of the rockfall couldn't even let him hear his own exclamation.

After climbing what was probably two hundred stairs in a half minute, the blue hunter kicked open a wooden door and continued his mad scramble towards another wooden door up ahead. The wall of the door he had just entered shattered into a huge mess of bricks that would have caught up if Richter had not made it through the next door. When feeling the shaking cease, Richter slowed down his run and set Remilia back down on her feet.

"Thanks. I don't think I could have flied fast enough to avoid that." Remilia appreciated with a genuine smile. Richter was going to brag being right, but instead wrapped his arms around the vampiress.

"We go together. If we're separated, well, we wouldn't have made it out of that one." Richter told his partner with upmost care. In that moment of embrace, he felt the youthful vampiress's heart beat quick with excitement. "Calm down, Remilia. We made it out of there." Richter released her and looked at her with concern.

"My sister is here." the blue-haired girl announced boldly. "Do you remember what I said about her in my little story?"

"Oh." Richter muttered and made his mind run through what he had heard earlier. "Oh, boy."

"Yes. You just caught a glimpse of her power that... I'm jealous of at the moment." Remi looked away from the hunter and grew a face of disapproval. _"Why does she have her powers when I don't even have mine?"_

"I'm not sure if it's a good thing to know that she's here. And why does she have her powers when you don't even have yours?"

"You took the words out of my mouth." Remilia smirked casually when glancing back at her partner. "Unfortunately, I don't have an answer, but I'm sure fate will bring us together later on."

"You're really not making me feel any better." Richter shook his head and thought about the confrontation that was to come.

"Do you want me to rub your hand?"

"Come on, Remilia. I'm nineteen! Treat me like an adult!" His demand was dissolved when feeling the touch of his companion on his left hand. He sighed before he bringing up the issue at hand. "Where are we now?" The pair took a good look at their surroundings and instantly noticed a ghostly green mist that in the air. There were a number of white pillars supporting the area in elegant arches. Lastly, a set of four candle pedestals were between them and a brown door up ahead.

"This place reeks of death. I don't like it." The vampiress held her metal spear with both hands and looked back up to her partner.

"Me neither." Richter walked towards the wooden door with Remilia following by his side. The pair entered through the wooden door and found themselves in what appeared to be a throne room with eerie moonlight entering through a trio of windows from both sides. Two pillars stood opposite each other with one of them holding an oversized white mask. The two then looked ahead and found what appeared to be a princess on an elegant chair in the middle of it all. The dark-haired, light-skinned stranger had a long dress that had the exact same color as Remilia's own. Richter felt compelled to the beauty and gave his trademark smile. "Hey, there." The lady showed no sign of emotion as she stood up from her seat and approached the blue hunter.

"Stay back, foul monster." Remilia warned while pointing her spear at the stranger.

"Monster?" Richter shook himself before seeing what she was talking about as the white mask on the pillar broke off and shattered into pieces to reveal a frightening bloody skull. "Damn. Really?" A dark spirit left the body of the woman in the princess attire and rose up into the skull. Then a flash of light blinded the two adventurers for a moment. When they looked up again, they saw a purple-haired female spirit cradling around the large skull.

"Hyah!" the vampiress yelled and slashed at the woman. She smirked when seeing the woman leap backwards behind the chair to avoid the attack, but was disgusted when seeing the long pink dress fall to the floor. Richter had seen this and shifted his attention to the evil spirit hovering above. Remilia looked past the chair and instead of finding a nude woman, she discovered a purple-haired, tan-skinned woman in a leather outfit that was very revealing. This was the monster known as Carmelia. _"You dare fool my love?"_ She ran towards the deceiver and raised her spear to attack. Before she could land her attack, Remi felt herself pulled back. "What the?" A second later, a small red colored droplet fell where Remilia was about to run into and burst into four flames that flew in different directions. "How many times do you have to save me in one day?"

"Together." the blue hunter reminded as he ducked to avoid the fiery attack. "If only I had a cross..." He saw the vampiress reach into her dress pocket and pull out a blue cross. "Why the hell are you carrying that around?"

"I thought you would like it. Now, defeat the spirit while I vanquish this imposter." She dodged to her right to avoid a kick that was aimed for her face.

Richter used the opportunity to whip the demon before she leaped back. He looked back up at the skull now floating directly above him and threw his new subweapon at the hovering enemy and felt satisfied when hearing a few ghostly shrieks come from the spirit. He rolled away to avoid the red droplet and sidestepped quickly to dodge one of the four fiery bursts. Once under the skull again, he raised his hand and caught the blue weapon that returned to him as if it were a boomerang.

"The holy cross will dispel all evil!"

While Richter was fighting off the spirit wrapped around the skull, Remilia was repeatedly thrusting her spear at the ever elusive demon. She was leading her to the wall to trap her and grinned madly when seeing her opportunity to perform a fatal stab. But disappointment resided when Carmelia leaped over the vampiress and landed several feet away. Remilia was thankful she turned around and avoided a wild flame that was going towards her.

"Don't frustrate me further. You wouldn't like that."

Richter saw the demon land right by him and whipped her with the opportunity. Carmelia flinched and leaped away to where she was earlier, but in the midst of her jump, Remilia had kicked off the ground and jammed her silver spear into the back of the monster. She smiled at the sight of blood coming from the stranger, but felt angered when seeing the injury quickly heal itself.

"Oh, great." Remilia mumbled in annoyance as she shook off the blood on her spear and glared at the demon. "Richter, this monster can heal itself."

"Huh? I'll get back to you with that." the blue hunter replied as he jumped and backflipped in mid-air to avoid another fire attack. He threw the same cross into the skull and continued feeling confident with the repeated shrieks coming from the spirit. In response, the skull released numerous drops of red. Richter knew that victory was at hand so he leaped through all the fire that was shooting out and glared for a split-second at the spirit before attacking it with his divine chain whip. Instead of the usual shriek, a loud moan came from the ghostly woman as she slowly burst into flames and disappeared from view. Remilia had heard the moan and saw the infatuating demon in front of her clutch her heart.

"Splendid!" Remilia exclaimed as she thrusted her spear to the demon. Carmelia ducked, slid away to avoid the blow, and leaped to where the large skull was floating at. Remilia followed with anger, but was suspicious of the skull floating by itself. Richter whipped Carmelia a few times and saw that she was indeed able to heal rapidly.

"Die monster!" Richter exhorted with frustration and threw the blue cross into the chest of the demon.

"Richter, watch out!" Remilia dropped her spear, ran to her companion, and pushed him a great distance away with the help of her wings. Her intuition had been correct when hearing a small explosion behind and heard what sounded like plastic smashing against the floor. Richter had seen what had happened and knew that a piece of the skull would have caught him off guard. But he also saw the demon they were fighting make its way out one of the windows.

_"Damn. She got away."_ Richter pondered on in his mind in annoyance. Then something else came to his mind-Remilia was on top of him when he was below her.

_"So irresistable... But now is not the time."_ The vampiress got up slowly and looked with wonder at her partner. "We're even now."

"Yeah. But she escaped." Richter told his partner while picking up the blue cross on the floor where he last saw the demon.

"I know. We will find her." Remilia walked towards one wall where there were windows and gazed through them. "I think I liked the waterfall better."

"You said you did. What's the problem?"

"We are very high up and it looks like the only way to get to progress is through a path in the ocean." the blue-haired girl advised with uneasiness. Richter approached the spot where Remilia was at and observed what she just informed him about.

"Let's get to it, then." Richter suggested as he climbed out the window and began walking down a set of conveniently placed stairs. "I swear this place only goes one way." He looked across the ocean and saw a small fort followed by a castle. _"And there's the castle. Alright. Almost there. A little bit longer, Annette."_

"More stairs? It is better than an elevator." Remilia chuckled inside as she followed her companion's side.

"Yeah. No more elevators for me. Ever." the blue hunter stressed with seriousness in his voice. Remi covered her mouth to suppress her laughter and did her best to smile. That smile turned grim shortly when she recalled what had caused that elevator to fail in the first place.

_"Such a wonderful dream that had to bring in my sister to ruin it."_ Her mind had continued to drawl off before realizing that her hands were empty. "Wait. I need to fetch my weapon." She ran back to the room and left Richter behind to wait for her.

_"I think I was about to be charmed by that demon. Thank goodness Remilia stopped it."_ Richter thought in appreciation of the partner he had. When the vampiress returned with her spear in one hand, Richter gave a heartwarming smile and offered his hand to the youthful girl.

"Thank you, my prince." Remilia grabbed a hold of his hand with her left and wrapped her fingers around his.

"You are welcome, my queen." The Scarlet Devil felt her heart beat wildly at this as they made their way down the wooden stairs with caution.

"Hey, Richter, there's already someone waiting at the bottom." Remilia was referring to the skeleton in blue and yellow armor that was holding a white weapon with both hands. The figure positioned its weapon to his right side to which Richter sighed.

"As if running in a collapsing cave wasn't enough." The skeleton suddenly disappeared and left numerous hallucinations of itself slashing the staircase. The whole wooden structure creaked loudly after that. Remilia rolled her eyes before turning to her partner with a smirk.

"Are you prepared, Richter?"

"Always, Remilia." The duo ran down the collapsing stairs and braced themselves for the oceanic trial.

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><p>Author's Note: Remilia and Richter ventured through a watery route in contrast to the forest. Remilia has discovered that Flandre is somewhere in her dream. Richter is worried about Maria. And a skeleton with a lightsaber-look-alike weapon has made their descent tougher. Will they make it past the long path in the ocean? Good bye for now!<p> 


	5. 05 Intermission

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners.

Author's Note: As the chapter title implies, this chapter is to address the situation back in Gensokyo. My apologies for the short chapter ahead, but even small, I felt that this chapter was needed. Having the Scarlet sisters simply venture into Castlevania without effects on their home would be quite the oddball. Also, one month of writing, editing, and uploading this story! With that, please enjoy chapter five...

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><p>While the two Scarlet sisters were "dreaming", a problem came about back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The shrine maiden of the local area nearby flew through the sky and landed in front of the mansion's gates. In her path was the gate guard, Hong Meiling, patrolling back and forth at the entrance. When the red-haired woman in a green uniform saw the stranger, she stopped her patrol and got into her fighting stance.<p>

"Hold it! No one enters without the mistress's permission!" the red-head hollered with seriousness.

"Easy. I'm only going to see how Remilia and Flandre are doing. I'll be out in a few." Reimu informed with a small smile. She walked towards the gate and was about to grab the gate when they suddenly burst open in a split second. In a blink of an eye, a grey-haired woman in an elegant grey and dark blue maid outfit appeared in front of Reimu.

"Let her be, Meiling. I'm curious to know the whereabouts of the two mistresses." The red-haired guard backed away with the order from her superior.

"What do you mean, Sakuya? They're in bed, right?" Reimu asked in confusion as she pulled up a sleeve that was easing its way down.

"No, they are not. And they seem to have vanished shortly after drinking your tea." The shrine maiden nervously put up a smile at this. "And I found my pocket clock in their bedroom. Tell me, how did that happen?"

"Oh, come on. I wasn't here to see it so how should I know?" But inside, Reimu already knew what had happened. _"A really bad time to have fun, Yukari..."_

"From what my lady told me, you didn't mention any side effects from drinking that tea." the maid slimmed her eyes at the visitor. Reimu had come to simply pick up the secret ingredient for the tea that she had left here, but it looked like she was going to have a harder time the way things are going.

"I know. I know. Just let me in and I'll see if I can figure it out for myself." Reimu suggested with some uneasiness. Sakuya easily saw the slight nervousness and became suspicious of the visitor.

"Follow me, if you will." The duo went through the glorious yard full of green and entered through the doors that seemed to have opened on their own. Intricately woven couches, custom made pieces of furniture, and tacky portraits of various people Reimu did not recognize decorated the vast living room. They made their way past a few small fairies who were wearing similar maid uniforms like Sakuya, but in various colors of blue and pink. The smaller sized beings floated along carrying off cleaning supplies around the mansion. The two went up a stretched flight of stairs to the second floor where there were more fairies tending to cleaning duties.

_"Why do they keep cleaning if Remilia isn't even here?"_ Reimu puzzled as she continued following the chief maid through a hallway until the two stopped in front of a plain looking wooden door. Sakuya reached down, turned the golden knob of the door, and pushed it open gently. In a flash, a few candles lit up the room with Sakuya looking at the shrine maiden with patience. Reimu saw the few pictures of Remilia and guessed that they were now in her room. "Don't scare me like that." And sure enough, Remilia and Flandre were not in the bed. She would have to make an effort to investigate or else admitting the truth would make the maid seek vengeance for the disappearance of her mistress. She walked up to the empty bed and moved a few pillows around.

"What are you doing?" Sakuya questioned with annoyance at the pillows being wrinkled.

"Looking for clues. The tea doesn't make people disappear. Something else must have happened." She continued moving the pillows out of the way until she found a white note buried beneath. Sakuya saw the note and instantly had it in her hand. The maid read through the note and glared at the shrine maiden with ill intent. "Oh, boy. What is it?"

"I implore that you read it yourself." Sakuya handed the note over calmly despite the storm that was clearly developing. Reimu looked at the piece of paper and ran the words through her mind.

_"I heard about another sleep trial taking place and thought I would mix it up a little. I used a ribbon on Remilia to make her powers go away for being a snob and two on her sister to make her run around like a normal little girl. Oh, and I switched the tea for a less powerful one so that they could wake up fast. Don't worry. I'll bring them back in three days. Kudos!"_ Reimu knew she was in for it now.

"Well? What do you plan on doing to that gap youkai?"

"If that wasn't the tea, then..." Reimu drawled off with her focus on the different problem. She looked to the right and saw the small white jar of white powder. She opened it and took a small whiff of the small cloud that came. She frowned when seeing that she was still awake. "Ah, crap. Remilia must've left sight of it for a minute."

"Your special ingredient isn't important right now. We must confront-"

"What? What do you mean my special ingredient doesn't matter? Someone can figure out how to make a load of it, spread it around the land like your mistress did with her mist, and make everyone fall asleep." the shrine maiden warned with slight fear and annoyance. Sakuya looked at the visitor in shock before restoring her composure.

"You just made that up, didn't you?" Reimu sighed in defeat before looking back at the maid.

"It was worth a try. Seriously though, I need that tea back and I know Yukari didn't take it with her." Reimu handed the open jar to Sakuya. "Do you recognize this smell?"

"Recognize the smell? Why would I ever-" She wrinkled her nose at the mint aroma she picked up. "That's Patchy's medicine." the maid informed and vanished in a split second.

Reimu ran out of the room and closed the door behind her. She ran past the multitude of flying faries cleaning the dark-tinted windows and down the stairs to return to the first floor. She ran into a hallway nearby that eventually led to a pair of large brown doors. She pulled them apart and entered the large area that was the library. She spotted a brown desk on the opposite side and quickly dashed towards it. When getting near it, she found Sakuya looking over a slumbering purple-haired woman in a pink get-up with a smaller sized, red-haired, winged girl in a servant's attire sleeping by her. Reimu found the small jar of white sitting on top of a small pile of books with two teacups that were almost full.

"So it is just me and the gate guard. Glorious..." the grey-haired woman sneered as she grabbed the closed jar of white powder.

"Careful. The effect is-" Reimu warned when she saw the maid open the small jar and breathed in a little of the content. Sakuya immediately fell backwards asleep and Reimu snatched the jar before it could spill over the floor. She took the round lid and tightened it around the jar's top. She then pocketted the white powder into her miko dress before looking down at the maid that had a small smile on her face. "Jeez. I'm sure you'd love it if you drank it." She knew this because of the one time when she drank a teacup of it and had a fantastic dream. It was well deserved after all the trouble that she had been through in this land. Within a half-minute, Sakuya grumbled and opened her eyes slowly.

"Ahh... Did I just fall asleep for the day?" The maid rose from her spot on the ground and glanced at the shrine maiden standing at where she last remembered seeing her.

"No. Less than a minute. You liked it, didn't you?" Reimu asked with a playful smile on her face.

"Th-That matters not at the moment." Sakuya brushed away a few locks in her hair and continued looking at the guest with undivided attention. "What matters is that we-"

"Yukari came to my shrine and told me that she would go to the human world to experience a small vacation." Reimu announced boldly before she could hear the repeated priority from the maid.

"You expect me to believe that?" Sakuya nearly demanded with pure fury.

"Look. I'm just as surprised as you are. And I know you love your mistress, but you can't help her when you don't know where she is. Yukari will keep her word. If she doesn't, then I have many charms to stick on her when I find her. You..." the young woman in red and white paused with some wonder. "Why don't you take some of this tea for yourself and take a break?"

"Are you mad?" the maid revolted in a louder voice. "I must tend to the mansion while the mistress is not present!"

"I was joking. I know you wouldn't." Reimu smiled with hidden intention. Sakuya nearly growled when hearing that response, but only took a deep breath.

"Very well. Do you wish to leave now?"

"Yes, please." The maid nodded and accompanied the visitor through the library. Before the two could reach the door, a woman in black and white walked around a corner and met with them. "Marisa?"

"Oh, hey, Reimu, Sakuya." the witch greeted freely with her left hand. In her right hand was a violet-colored book with a small piece of paper in the middle.

"I see that you are alive and well." Sakuya observed the status of the yellow-haired woman. "Allow me to take the book off your hands."

"No way. I'm not gonna borrow it. Patchy's sleeping so I'm just reading in here." Marisa told the maid before turning to her dark-haired friend with a smirk. "That tea really knocked her out, ze." As if Sakuya couldn't get anymore infuriated, a silver knife planted itself on the bookshelf right before Marisa's nose.

"Right when I was about to go home. What a pain..." Reimu mumbled to herself in disappointment. In the next moment, she felt the jar in her dress disappear. "You had better not even think about it."

"How's about a cup of tea for the two guests?" Sakuya offered eloquently with a deceiving smile as she held a silver tray with two warm cups of tea on it.

"I'd rather not." Marisa declined and backed away nervously. In the next instant, the witch felt a warm liquid enter her mouth as did the shrine maiden.

"Marisa, I'll..." Reimu growled before she fell forward onto the floor. The blonde fell forward as well and the two ventured into a long slumber.

"Enjoy your sleep." Sakuya laughed as she carried the two guests to separate rooms on the second floor.

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><p>Author's Note: Reimu had planned on retrieving her jar of sleeping powder, but instead received a slumber alongside Marisa because of a misunderstanding detail she brought up in front of Sakuya. The chief maid can only wonder what fate lies in store for her superiors with the disadvantages that she read they had in the note Yukari left behind. Bye bye now!<p> 


	6. 06 Superior

Disclaimer: All characters used in this story belong to their respective owners. The Castlevania sprites were ripped and provided by badbatman3 and SMITYGCN. The Touhou sprites were ripped and provided by Azu and DarkOverlord.

Author's Note: Long time; no see. My most sincere apologies for that delay. I will complete this story, but whether or not it will be timely is a whole different issue. As a side note, I tried out the book cover idea. With that said, here is chapter six...

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><p>Flandre and Maria had just entered the dungeon. Instead of Maria using her green dragon to vanquish every foe that the two stumbled upon, Flandre was using her Laevatain to slash and defeat every enemy in her way. Maria was dashing slower, though, as she was peering into every cell that they passed by.<p>

"Maria, why are you going so slow?" the youthful vampire informed boldly while delivering a scorching slash to a red skeleton.

"Flan. I told you. I need to find my friend, Richter." Flandre stopped her assault and walked back to her partner with a bewildered look. She sniffed the air with her nose and gave the huntress a look of disappointment.

"I don't think he's here."

"You can smell him?" Maria asked curiously and materialized a white dove in her left hand. Flan was surprised at the different animal and had her eyes sparkle in a moment of the beauty of it. But then Maria threw it past her to break apart the red skeleton that Flan had thought she had just beaten.

"Thanks. Yeah. Yesterday, my sister was telling me stuff that vampires can do. Smelling for blood is one of them."

"But there's a lot of it around here." Flandre looked around and nodded in agreement with her partner.

"I know, but it's all... I don't know... Bad?" the youthful vampire tried to explain. "If your friend is around, then..." She paused again in wonder. "Look, don't get scared. But if your friend is around, then I'd probably smell something tasty..." Maria wasn't sure if she should be scared, but she felt a little left out in that detail. Once again, the twelve-year-old huntress summoned a white dove and launched it at the red skeleton that seemed to keep rising back up.

"So you're saying that I'm not tasty?" Flandre laughed loudly at her friend's comment.

"Come on, Maria. You're my best friend." Flan could only fight the feeling in her gut that wanted to say that she was indeed tasty.

"Okay. Let's go. I'm tired of this skeleton." Maria announced as she called upon her green dragon to tackle and smash apart the red skeleton that stood up again.

So the two made their way through the small hallway of dungeon cells and found a platform four feet off the ground, suggesting the two needed to go up. Maria easily leaped six feet and landed on the cement floor, but for Flandre, this was a problem.

"Hey, Flan, why do you have those wings if you can't use them?"

"I can use them. Just not right now..." the vampire attempted to explain and drawled on. She looked at the higher floor where her companion was waiting and then at her black rod before raising it up. "Here." Maria backed away from the dark weapon with fear. She saw her use fire with it and would probably have her hand burned to a crisp by holding it for a second. "What?"

"N-No, Flan. What doesn't hurt you could really, really hurt me."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Flandre asked and lowered her prized possession.

"I saw you swinging that thing with fire. It has to be very hot." Maria replied soundly while keeping her distance away from the dark rod.

"Okay. I get it." Flandre responded and tossed her Laevatain into the air and had it land on the platform above. "Help me up." Flan asked of her partner as she leaped two feet straight up and grabbed onto the edge of the floor sticking out of the wall. Maria grabbed her friend's hands and pulled her up carefully.

"Sorry, Flandre. I would've, but I couldn't." Flan grabbed her dark weapon and placed it into her partner's left hand quickly. Maria was startled and wanted to let it go, but Flandre had her hand around her own so she was unable to. It was then that Maria realized how smooth and cool the curvy sword was. Flan smiled at the surprise her partner had and let go of her companion's hand to let her hold it alone.

"See? Nothing bad happened. Now, let's go up higher." Maria nodded and kept her hold on the rod. She jumped onto the floor above them and turned to see her friend already hanging by the edge. She grabbed the vampire's hands once again and helped her up. "Thanks." Flandre smiled and wrapped her right hand around her weapon. She became puzzled when seeing Maria fascinated with her sword. "Um, Maria? You can let go now."

"Whoops. Sorry." the youthful huntress replied and shook herself from her gaze. She let go of the curvy weapon and looked away towards a trio of skeletons-one red and two grey-speaking to each other in silence. But something kept bothering her after holding onto her friend's sword. _"Richter has a whip. Flandre has a sword. That strong bull-guy had an axe. What do I have? Just a little white dove..."_

"Ya!" Flandre shouted as she ran and swiped her sword at the three skeleton frames. The grey skeletons leaped back and dodged the attack, but the red skeleton was hit right on.

_"So much for the bet about leaving us alone. Set the traps!"_ one of the grey skeletons informed his partner in silence. The duo of skeletons ran towards a flight of stairs, but failed when the two were electrified with white cats running up against them from behind. Flan was once again surprised and looked to her partner who looked less than happy. Unknowingly to the two adventurers, the red skeleton rose up again and walked off towards the stairs.

"A green dragon, white bird, and white cat? What else can you do?" The eagerness in the youthful vampire made Maria disregard whatever sadness she had earlier about not having a weapon of her own.

"Oh. This!" Maria exclaimed as she threw her left arm forward and launched two red birds upwards at different angles. Then she crouched down and materialized a blue turtle shell around her. The huntress burst through the shell and looked with cheerfulness at her partner.

"Cool." This small show of magic made Flandre jealous, but she did have colorful magic of her own.

"What about you?" the twelve-year-old in pink questioned with her own eagerness.

"If I didn't have the problem I was in, I could fly and move really fast. That's about it."

"Really? What about all those colorful dots you made earlier? And... the door you broke just by doing something with your hand?" Flan felt much more relaxed with her friend pointing out her abilities. Back in her home, she would be getting in deep trouble for her show of power.

"That too." Flan giggled lightly before turning to the staircase ahead. "Let's go look for your friend."

The two dashed through the hallway of dungeon cells and ran up the flight of stairs. Fear crept up on the huntress when seeing the whole area in total darkness and hearing the faint sound of metal scraping against cement. Flandre had no problem, though, as she was a vampire with night vision and proceeded to hit a skeletal frame of a dragon attached to a wall that was about to breathe a fireball at them.

"Ha!" Maria could only see her partner jump in the air because of the dim light coming from the colorful diamonds on the vampire's wings. But when she saw the skeleton dragon that Flan was attacking, she threw her own green dragon at it to help out. With a large roar, the skeletal beast fell apart and landed on the floor.

"Flan, I can't see anything. Just a little bit because of your wings." Maria told her partner with worry in her voice. "Help me out."

"Okay." the vampire agreed and grabbed the huntress's right hand with her empty left. It was a quite a change for Flandre. Her sister was always the one leading her around and she had always followed without questioning. Now, it was her turn to try out the role and help out her best friend.

"Thanks." Even though Flandre was shorter than her, Maria thought of her like a big sister just for this. And even though it was probably not the best situation for it, she liked that feeling-that bond that she could never experience before. The pair walked onward with Flandre softly pulling her partner along. The two adventurers heard the continuous scraping of metal with cement becoming louder until Flandre stopped.

"The floor's a little bit higher on this next step."

Maria nodded and raised her left leg two feet off the ground and had it touch the raised floor. She raised her other leg and brought it up. Flan copied Maria's example and climbed the small obstacle. The huntress felt her fear spike as the sound of metal scraping continued to get even louder as they progressed. She hoped that they wouldn't need to run past any monsters with axes. The two stopped their slow walk where Maria was now hearing the metal hit the floor just a few feet away. And the cool breeze that she felt from each time the sound came only made the huntress more scared.

"There's this huge axe swinging back and forth right in front of us. I'm gonna 'kyu' it, okay?"

"Kyu it?" the huntress asked in confusion.

"Kyuu!" Flandre yelled as she clenched her fist that was pointed at the large axe's chain that was swinging from the ceiling. Almost immediately, the chain burst into many pieces of metal that flew apart. Flan gasped at the few small, but sharp pieces flying their way in that split second that she willed magic into her Laevatain and brought it to life with fire. She held the fiery sword in front of her that melted the pieces that flew their way. And then Maria noticed that the room was lit up with her friend's weapon. In all this, the large axe that had been swinging landed several feet away and let the path be clear in front of the two.

"Hey, Flan, keep using that. I can see." And when she looked at the way they were going, her hopefulness dropped down. There were a number of blades sticking out of the ground that were spinning at ridiculous speeds. She gulped in fear when seeing the broken skeletons and dried blood close by. And when the huntress turned to see her partner, she saw that she was happy more than anything. Maria didn't dare ask about it after seeing what Flandre could do when having fun.

"Okie-dokie." Flan agreed playfully as she held her blazing weapon like a torch. "But it only lasts for a little while."

The two walked a few steps before encountering the first blade that was spinning madly around. Flandre looked at the spinning obstacle with anger until Maria broke into her thoughts.

"Aren't you going to 'kyu' it?"

"I want to, but it's moving too fast." the vampire admitted with disappointment. She looked ahead into the room and saw a small green man hunched over what looked like a button. "I think I've got it." She slashed forward and made a pillar of flame shoot towards the midget watching the two. Flan smiled when seeing the small man in green gone after her attack. The button that it had been on rose up and created a large echoing click. After that, the blades in front of the two adventurers stopped humming and slowed down to a standstill.

"Yay!" Maria cheered and walked across the clearing with her partner in tow.

_"Remi would be proud of me for being smart like that." _The pair paused in front of a small section of red floor raised a little higher than the tan floor they were on. "It's a trap."

"Yeah. There's four arrows in front of us. Don't step on that red floor." the huntress informed her friend of the four arrows in the wall ahead waiting to be launched. Maria looked further ahead of the red floor and spotted another one ahead. "Or the one after."

"No problem. One, two, three!" The duo leaped over the red floor at the same time and landed on the tan floor. "And three!" Flan yelled again to which the two jumped over the second elevated red floor. "Aw. A dead end." Flan observed the wall in their way. Maria turned around and motioned for her companion to as well. What they saw was a flight of stairs leading up.

"At least you won't have to jump." Both went up the stairs and found themselves looking at the button where the small green man had been at. They turned around and found a long pathway without any monsters or moving traps. "I want it to be easy, but it almost never is."

"Yep." Flan giggled in agreement. Even though she can't control herself sometimes when she wants to 'play', she remembered the first time when Reimu and Marisa went to the basement to stop her. She thought it would be easy to beat them, but was proven wrong. _"Uh! Not even my best spell card worked on them!"_ Flan took a look at the ceiling and spotted three sets of spikes. "Bingo."

"Bingo? What's that?"

"Look." Flandre told her partner and pointed at the three collections of spikes in the ceiling.

"Oh. Bingo means spikes. Okay."

"Huh? No-no-no." Flan denied quickly before Maria would get used to it. "Bingo is like saying 'I got it' or 'I know what it is'. And it's also a fun number game my grandpa liked."

"Cool. Could you show me how to play when we get done beating the bad man?"

"Sure. Now, let's go." Flandre told her partner with eagerness. She let go of her hand and ran through the passageway with no problem. She turned to her partner on the opposite side and waited for her. "Your turn!" Maria ran, but a small metal click instantly made her somersault forward and barely avoid the first spike trap that fell from above.

"Look out!" Maria warned Flan of a fireball going her way.

Flandre turned around and jumped over the burst of fire. She then saw the source of the attack-another dragon skeleton moving around on the wall. Maria quickly rolled past the two other spike traps and landed next to Flan who slashed the beast once and made the grey coloring of the bones turn to charcoal black. "Ya!" Maria threw a pair of red birds that nicked the monster on both sides of its jaw. The dragon roared and burst apart into a mess of bones on the floor quickly after the flame attacks.

"Thanks, best friend." Flandre told her partner with a smile.

"You're welcome." The two looked back at where they came from and saw a small section in the floor missing. And in its place was a lonely vanilla ice cream cone balancing on its pointy end.

"No way. It's ice cream!" The youthful vampire ran to the treat and picked it up. She turned to the huntress with wonder before licking the frosty treat. "Do you want some?"

"It's been in a dungeon full of..." Before Maria could finish her comment, Flan shrugged and licked the vanilla treat. "Ew!"

"Mmm! It's tasty."

Both focused back where they were heading and spotted a brown door. So they went through it and had it shut tight behind them. Maria felt relaxed when seeing the candles lighting up the area. Flandre dimmed the fire on her sword until it burned out on its own and she kept licking the ice cream cone with content. The two were now in an eerie hallway full of violet-colored pillars and bronze gargoyle statues. There was a set of stairs on the other side of the hallway and at the top of those stairs was the red skeleton from earlier.

_"Damn! They made it past the deathtraps! Let us see if they can traverse the rolling stones going down the stairs..." _The red minion thought in his mind before venturing off.

"It's all purple just like home." Flan observed and continued savoring her tasty treat. "Race you to the stairs!" The vampire ran off towards the stairs, but was surprised when Maria passed her up along the way in a matter of rolls. Flandre stopped her run and thought that what Maria was doing looked fun. So she ran ahead and somersaulted onto the floor. "Ow!" Flan yelled when her wings scratched along the floor. She forgot that she had those on her back and found herself scrambling to get up quickly. Her white mob cap had fallen out of her hair in her attempted stunt and revealed all of her messy, yellow hair that was underneath. Amazingly, the ice cream that she had been eating was still intact in her left hand. "Yah!" Maria glanced back at her partner and saw her rising from the floor.

"What were you doing? I already made it."

"I was trying to do what you were doing, but I can't because of my wings." Flandre admitted lowly and tried to avoid the fact that Maria beat her. "It looked fun."

"Yeah. It's fun." Maria giggled and looked at her dress. "But it gets you really dirty, really fast." She shook herself and wiped away the dirt her pink dress had picked up. Flandre took a look at her two-piece dress and found a few brown smudges on various places.

_"Sister would be giving me that talk about being clean."_ Flan thought and dusted the dirt off.

"Don't forget your hat!"

"Oh. Thanks." Flandre picked up the white cap behind her and placed it neatly onto her head. She went beside Maria and the two ascended the set of stairs.

_"Perfect. Here they come."_ The red skeleton observed the two girls entering the area. Flandre and Maria both looked at the red skeleton watching and waited for it to do something. _"What? Go ahead. Meet your doom!"_ He motioned for the two to continue their journey. The vampire and vampire huntress looked where he was pointing to and saw a rolling stone ball going down the stairs. They saw the ball go down a small hole and heard it land on a floor below. Flandre glared at the monster, but Maria touched her shoulder to stop her from attacking.

"Leave him alone. He hasn't tried to hurt me or you."

_"How considerate..."_ the red minion pondered at the huntress's order.

"Okay. Let's follow the rolling balls. Going up the stairs is gonna be hard because I can't jump far."

_"No! Up the stairs! Go face death! Go up! Up! Up!"_ Both girls looked at the skeleton frantically pointing to the stairway going up.

"I think we should go up. He keeps telling us to." Maria told her companion with concern.

"Okay." Flan mumbled and walked ahead. She giggled before jumping into the hole where the stone ball had fallen through.

"Flan!" Maria yelled and leaped into the hole to follow her partner.

_"Damn it! What a big waste of a trap room!"_ The red skeleton yelled in his mind and hit the wall head-on in frustration.

Both Flandre and Maria looked at the room they were in and saw the stone ball rolling away towards another area. Flan followed it and Maria followed her. They then saw an old-style elevator continuously raise and lower platforms. The vampire smiled in happiness at the easy route she had found.

"Yes! This beats going up the stairs!" The boulder they had followed rolled onto one of the platforms on the elevator and was locked in place as it was being brought up. The pair of adventurers waited for the next empty platform to rise from the hole in the floor and jumped in it together.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Maria agreed as she saw empty platforms going down on the other side of the platform.

"Sister would really like riding on one of these." Flan thought to herself out loud and kept looking at the candles decorating the place.

"This is fun. I wish there were more of these in this castle." Maria smiled and looked above to make sure there weren't any surprises. She saw something grab the grey boulder from the platform above them and became alert. "Flan, there's a monster coming up. Be ready." Flandre looked up at where Maria was gazing at and nodded in agreement. When they rose to the top of the elevator, the pair jumped off and looked at a strong-looking, pale-human. The two saw that he was bald and had black eyes. Maria covered her eyes when seeing the man only had a pair of purple underwear on. "Ew!" The strong man scratched his head at the sight of the two girls in front of him.

"Girls cheat by not taking stairs."

"Sorry, but I liked this way better." Flandre replied and saw the man grab a grey boulder from an elevator platform. "What are you doing?"

"I must always make grey boulders go this way. Only I do it." the man responded with some difficulty.

"So you've been doing this all the time?"

"Yes. Master said so." Flandre couldn't help herself and felt sorry for the stranger. She had been trapped in the basement of her home almost 500 years, but she wasn't forced to do anything in there.

"Let's go, Flan. This guy isn't Richter." Maria advised her partner while peeking through her hands.

"No. I'm gonna help him." Flandre announced and turned to a low-humming, spinning machine that was holding up the large elevator.

"Help me? I don't need help." the man denied as he reached in to another grey boulder, grabbed it, and made it roll along where it was destined to. Flandre ate the last bit of her ice cream cone before pointing her open hand at the machine. Before she could clench it into a fist, Maria uncovered her face and grabbed her wrist.

"Wait. Don't do it if he doesn't need help."

"But he's not happy. He has to stay here and move grey balls all day long." Flandre tried to persuade her partner of the stranger's situation.

"Happy? I feel happy. Ice cream waiting for me to eat after done today." the buff guy told the vampire while repeating his role in making boulders roll down the stairs. Hearing the stranger talk about ice cream made her feel even more glum for the stranger. She ate what the guy was looking forward to.

"Um. I just ate an ice cream cone." The man looked at her with a carefree attitude and patted the top of her head.

"Silly girl. My treat in knight place right before boss's room, not dungeon." That made Flandre feel a whole lot better. At least she knew that she didn't eat his dessert because they hadn't passed by any sort of knights along the way. "Go to brown door. Don't eat ice cream. I catch you if ate." The pale man pointed to the passage in which he was rolling the stone balls along. The pair of adventurers were about to head that way, but Maria grew curious to find out something.

"Hey, mister, have you seen someone with brown hair and wearing something blue?"

"Brown hair? Blue?" The muscle-bound man stopped his task for a moment and thought about the encounters that he has had with in his time. "Sorry. He not come here." In the short while that the man was pondering about Maria's question, Flandre had lifted and made two boulders roll along where he had been setting them. He turned to the red-eyed girl with a smile. "Thanks. You very strong."

"No problem and thanks." Flandre returned the smile with cheerfulness. "Bye!" The vampire waved at the man and saw him wave back.

"Bye!"

With that, Flandre and Maria ran through the narrow passageway and found a brown door ahead. The two jumped over a small gap and landed next to a bronze gargoyle decorating the room. They went through the door and let it shut itself behind them. In contrast to the violet area they came from, this new area was full of blue, bricked walls and several arch pathways illuminated by various lanterns. There was a second floor above with stairs leading even higher. Looking down at them was the red skeleton that they seemed to keep on encountering.

_"They might have made the boulder area useless, but the axe knights will vanquish them."_ the red fiend thought before turning around and ascending the stairs by him.

"Which way, Maria?"

"In a dungeon, the best way to make sure you're getting out is by going higher." Maria answered with as much confidence as she could muster. _"That's what dad always said."_

"The stairs it is!" Flandre agreed and ran ahead of Maria. Right when the two were passing over a small gap in the floor above them, a yellow ball fell on top of the vampire. "Ow!" She glared at the yellow sphere that bounced away from her. To her surprise, the yellow ball moved about and opened itself to reveal a large eyeball. "Bleh!" She swung her wand at the creature and knocked it a great distance away.

"Flan, help!" Maria hollered as she slid under a spinning axe. Flandre looked at the enemy who threw the axe and smiled evilly at it. The magical set of blue armor stopped its assault when seeing the look on the rainbow-winged girl's face. It turned around and ran towards a flight of stairs. Flan dropped her smile and turned it to a look of confusion.

"That was easy..." Flan mumbled before swatting away the double-edged axe that flew through through the air. Even Maria was surprised when seeing the suit of armor run off just like that. The two ran towards the same stairs the blue foe had climbed. When going up the steps and turning around, they find two large dragon skulls-one stacked on top of another.

_"Psst. They're here. Burn 'em." _the skull that saw the two adventurers informed its partner that was looking the opposite way. The inattentive dragon skull turned to his partner's direction and looked at the two girls approaching.

"Hey, it's the heads of those bone dragons from earlier." Maria advised while materializing a white dove in her left hand.

"Yep." The two saw the skulls open their mouths and form fireballs. "Watch out." Flan warned her partner. She saw the fireballs in the two dragon head mouths burst and reveal a red flame. She also saw the unmoving skulls breathe in air. "Uh oh." Flan grabbed Maria and threw her over the two skull heads.

"Wah!" Flan almost instantly dropped down onto the floor to avoid a rather large blaze from a pair of small enemies. Maria wasted no time in getting back up and throwing her white dove at the monsters. When it hit the two, they turned their attention towards her and formed fireballs in their mouths.

"Oh, no you don't!" Before the skulls knew it, Flandre had pierced the two heads with her curvy sword. The pair of dragon heads fell apart and turned to dust a quick moment later.

"Thanks." The huntress smiled at her friend despite the rough landing she had. It was better than being burned for sure.

"You're welcome." Flan responded with a toothy grin.

The duo made it through the rest of the floor with no problem and found the staircase they saw when entering the room at first. They climbed up and found themselves in another blue area with more candles decorating the area. They made their way through the area and eventually came up to six dragon skulls stacked neatly on top of one another.

_"They're here. Just like we planned."_

"I don't like this." Maria muttered and turned around to see the way they came from blocked by a large, spiked ball connected to many smaller spiked balls.

"You don't have to like it. Here." The vampire gave her prized sword to her friend before dashing to the bone pillar. "Too bad you guys can't move!" Flan shouted and made a large arc of red spikes shoot out from the palms of her hands towards the fiends.

_"Damn it. I want to fly like a real dragon next time." _the skull at the very top thought to himself. It took only three hits for each skull to crumble down onto the floor. Flandre was rather disappointed at the easy victory and turned to Maria with curiosity.

"Hey, Maria, aren't dragons supposed to fly?"

"Yep. I don't know, but I feel happier that we haven't found one that flies." The adventurers continued their walk and stumbled upon a loudly humming machine moving a spiked ball and a red platform back and forth. Ahead of the machine and facing the wall, was the red skeleton that they saw earlier.

_"Agh! Why did those stupid axe knights leave their post?"_ the red skeleton puzzled in frustration. He banged his head against the tan wall close by and caused it to crack. _"What the...?" _ He dug out the weakened section of the wall to reveal a sinister-looking, transparent, black sphere decorated with a white skull. The sphere had a long, brown thread sticking out from one side. _"What the hell is this?"_

"Where to?" Flandre asked as she looked around and saw a red skeleton looking at a broken section of a wall.

"Up. We have to get on that moving red floor and then go up the stairs." Maria informed and pointed to the stairs above the red skeleton. She looked at the machine attached to the floor and recognized the humming. "I think this thing is what-"

"Kyuu!" Flandre yelled rather loudly and clenched her hand that was pointed at the spiked ball moving back and forth. Her voice echoed all around as the loud humming ceased almost immediately. Flan watched in satisfaction as the ball of metal burst and released its many pointy edges onto the unsuspecting red skeleton. However, one of those edges created a spark when it impacted onto the floor and caused the thread of the black sphere to light on fire. The machine froze in place with the loss of one of its parts. Maria rubbed her forehead in annoyance and shook off the missed opportunity to explain herself.

"We should go, Flan." Maria announced as she leaped onto the frozen red platform. Flandre agreed and climbed up the machine to the red platform. Once at the top, the two jumped to the floor above and ran up the stairs. The red skeleton that was left behind rose up once more after being broken apart by numerous metal spikes. He then began hearing a loud creaking occur below him.

_"They broke the elevator. That can't be good."_ The skeleton continued staring at the black orb with interest. _"Hey, it's almost done burning. Wonder what it does?"_

"I'm getting tired of stairs, Maria. Are you sure?" Her question was answered when seeing the brown door ahead.

"I'm sure that I'm sure!" Maria giggled and ran to the wooden door. Flandre quickly followed her companion with a simple roll of her eyes.

The two made it through the door and let it shut behind them. All of a sudden, the two felt an extremely large rumbling in the area that they just came through. The pair of adventurers lost their footing and plopped down on the floor. They watched as dirt fell from the ceiling above and the walls and floor around them cracked loudly.

"Earthquake! Move!" Maria told Flan with urgency. The two got back up quickly and ran up the stairs close by. They saw another brown door straight ahead and ran to it. The two burst through and let the door shut tight behind them. It didn't take long for the small earthquake to stop and when it did, the two were greatly relieved. "Phew. That was close."

"Y-Yeah." Flandre stuttered as she fell backwards onto her rear. Her legs were wobbly after the scary quake. Whenever she had felt one, she would fly up and ignore it. But she lacked her flight here and was forced to experience it full on. Maria helped Flan get back up on her feet and returned the black sword back to her that she had dropped by accident.

The both of them took a look at the room they were in. It had the same tan floors, tan and blue walls, but there were a number of knight armors decorating the place. They both pondered about the blue armor that had ran away from them earlier and could only assume that these sets of armor would come to life, too. There was a single, but bright pair of candles high above the room, lighting up the area. Lastly, a light-blue lance was stuck on the floor in the center of the room. It stood tall as twice the height of Maria.

"Where now? I don't see any brown doors around." Flan puzzled when looking more closely around the area. The pair jumped down two platforms and gazed up at the very long weapon. Before Maria could give an explanation, the lance in front of them rose up from the floor. "Watch out."

The massive weapon spun around a few times in the air before coming to a stop. In that moment, a large set of iron armor appeared holding the weapon defensively with its right hand and a pale head in its left. This was the fallen knight known as the dullahan.

_"Neither of these two are the blue hunter." _the armored monster thought to himself in silence.

"Uh. Maybe he's friendly?" Flan suggested with some uneasiness in her voice.

_"But if they made it this far towards the castle, they must have an intention to confront the master. That must not happen."_ He raised his long weapon and pointed it at Flandre.

"Guess not." the young vampire sighed in disappointment as she brought up her Laevatain and held it defensively. Maria stood next to her friend with her white dove ready in hand.

_"How odd."_ the dullahan pondered at the sight of the weapons the two girls presented. He stepped back a bit with his lance in tow. Then he thrust with all his might towards the vampire.

Flan leaped to her left to avoid the attack and dashed instantly to the monster. She slashed at the armored leg and dented it with her sword. She then leaped to her right to get away from his next attack. Maria simply threw her dove repeatedly at the enemy's chest plate.

"Ya! You can't block this!" Little did Maria know that her doves were not even scratching him so he kept his attention on Flandre. He stepped back once more with his weapon and thrust his lance towards the vampire. But she was prepared for it and jumped to the right again. The monster let out a moan at the frustration of missing.

_"Just one stab is all it will take."_ He remained focused on the young vampire and raised his lance high into the air. Flan saw the danger and hopped backwards to avoid the attack. In the next moment, the monster threw down his lance to the spot where Flandre had been at.

"Whoa." Flan mumbled lowly at how fast the lance came down. "That would've hurt." Out of nowhere, a green dragon flied into the back of the knight and disappeared upon hitting it.

"Ha!" Maria yelled and called forth another dragon to attack. The dragon hit the dullahan's back again, but only made the suit of armor rattle for a moment.

"Take this!" the vampire exclaimed with her left palm facing the dullahan. From her hand came five red spikes of energy that all hit the target on its chest.

_"Magic? I have magic, too."_ The head in the suit of armor's head smiled evilly before being thrown up into the air. Both Maria and Flandre gazed up at the pale head and saw it suddenly become covered in a ghostly green flame. Then it flew straight to Flan.

"Huh?" She jumped backwards to dodge it, but the head kept its pursuit and phased through her chest. She dropped down on one knee and clutched her chest in pain. "What was that?" When she looked back up, she saw Maria throwing one too many doves and dragons at the suit of armor. She felt incredibly tired and wanted to go to sleep.

"Flan, are you okay?!"

The pale head floated back down to the set of armor and made the armor turn sharply towards Maria. He bent down slightly and made a grand jump of eighteen feet into the air. Then when he came down, he had his lance point down directly to where Maria was.

"Wah!" the huntress panicked and somersaulted forward to avoid the piercing. In the midst of her roll, the dullahan had almost landed on her pink dress. A metal sound echoed after that showed how much power was put into the assault. Maria got up quickly and ran to her friend. "Flan get up. I need you!"

"But I'm so tired..." Flan admitted with sadness. It felt as if the long time she had spent playing danmaku with Reimu and Marisa just happened, but in a matter of seconds.

_"Victory will be mine."_ The dullahan turned around and looked at his two targets.

"Don't give up... You can do it." Maria helped Flandre back up at the same time that she summoned a white cat to hit the armored being. She threw the cat and saw it run to the monster. When it ran past the iron legging, a jolt of electricity coursed throughout the armor. The head moaned for a moment before glaring at Maria with anger.

_"That will not happen again."_ He prepared to charge towards her and made Maria gasp. But before she could push her friend out of the way, Flan stepped forward and grabbed the lance as it was launched forward. _"Wh-What?"_ He saw the girl in red struggle to keep her eyes awake, but she had managed to grab a hold of his weapon as he had attacked.

"If you don't tell me how to make me feel better, I'll break this." Flandre announced with a half-smile. The dullahan tried to jerk the weapon away, but her grip remained.

_"It's temporary. But seeing as how you're strong..."_ he thought before launching his head into the air. Flandre used all her strength and pulled away the long weapon from the set of armor. Unexpectedly, the armor punched the floor extremely hard and caused the two adventurers to lose their footing.

"Whoa!" the two yelled before getting back up-Maria still helping Flan up. They both then saw the head fell back down into the left hand of the armor.

_"I'll take this back."_ The dullahan took the lance that Flan had dropped by accident with the quake. He saw the young vampire smile and knew that she was free of the slowing effect he had put on her.

"I feel better now. Thanks for waking me up."

_"The quake was simply a distraction."_ he thought as he sidestepped a cat the huntress had launched towards him.

"But now it's time to say good bye." Flandre laughed before twirling on one foot and raising her black sword high into the air. "Taboo: Laevatain!" A burst of flames came from her hand and engulfed her prized sword in fire.

_"Fire?"_ he questioned and stepped back in surprise of the upgraded weapon. _"So you like fire..."_

"Ha!" Flandre ran up to the suit of armor and delivered a scorching slash to the fallen knight's chest plate. She was disappointed when she felt her attack land and not pierce the armor. Before she could back away, the dullahan dropped his weapon and grabbed her in a quick manner. The fire surrounding the Laevatain vanished as he did so. He brought her in front of his head and gave an menacing smile.

_"Well, I like ice."_ He tossed her straight at Maria and felt satisfied at the result.

"Ouch!" Maria whined at being back down on the floor again. Flandre rose up and helped Maria stand up. "Be careful."

"Sorry." The two looked at the set of armor and saw him aiming his lance straight up. He threw his weapon straight up and looked back down to the two girls in front of him. "He just threw away his lance."

"Mwahahahahahahaha..." the dullahan laughed aloud and made shivers go across Flandre and Maria. A loud metal scrape was heard before being droned out by the sound of many turning gears. When the lance landed on the floor, it was surrounded by ice. The two adventurers became afraid and rushed under a platform at the edge of the area they were in. What they predicted came true because large piles of snow and ice started to tumble down. _"This ice will consume this room."_

"He's going to trap us!" Maria told Flan worriedly. A more ominous rumble came as an avalanche of snow and ice fell from above.

"Ahh!" the two girls shrieked together before being covered by the mountain of snow.

_"This ice will be your tomb."_

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Flandre and Maria made it through the dungeon. But a short battle with the dullahan has caused the two to be trapped under a layer of ice. Will Flandre and Maria make it out in one piece? See you next time.<em><br>_


End file.
